Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 81,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,051,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,802,366,000 after purchasing an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in CME Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,408,747,000 after buying an additional 56,725 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in CME Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,344,776,000 after buying an additional 134,242 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,319,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,179,858,000 after buying an additional 222,890 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.12.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $246.27 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $259.27 and its 200-day moving average is $282.38. The firm has a market cap of $89.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.21 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.37%.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.