CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 49.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 53,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 51,872 shares during the period. CME Group makes up approximately 4.0% of Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $14,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 185.5% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,244,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $330,182,000 after acquiring an additional 808,740 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $164,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after acquiring an additional 532,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of CME Group by 131,625.5% during the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 486,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,970,000 after purchasing an additional 485,698 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,511.23. This represents a 47.82% 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $290.82.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $276.37 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $224.62 and a 12 month high of $290.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.79. The firm has a market cap of $99.66 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

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.