Global X Japan Co. Ltd. Grows Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 5,501.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,466 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $954,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 206.9% during the 2nd quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 84.3% during the 2nd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth $30,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 59.2% during the second quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Barclays upped their price target on CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Argus lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $290.82.

CME Group Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $275.53 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50-day moving average of $272.52 and a 200-day moving average of $271.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.28. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $224.62 and a 12 month high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.