CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Purchased by Carnegie Investment Counsel

Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 155,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,939 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up about 0.8% of Carnegie Investment Counsel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in CME Group were worth $42,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 808,740 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth about $164,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 1.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 532,549 shares during the period. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in CME Group by 131,625.5% in the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 486,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,970,000 after purchasing an additional 485,698 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1%

CME opened at $276.73 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $224.62 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $273.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $271.85. The firm has a market cap of $99.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.28.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday. Citigroup raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Eight investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $290.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares in the company, valued at $17,737,468.20. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group 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.