Andra AP fonden Raises Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Andra AP fonden grew its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 113.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 145,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,100 shares during the quarter. Andra AP fonden’s holdings in CME Group were worth $39,259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,307,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,539,618,000 after buying an additional 130,698 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 3.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,524,271,000 after acquiring an additional 319,899 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth approximately $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 2.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,682,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,289,910,000 after purchasing an additional 92,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of CME Group by 6.6% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,056,476,000 after purchasing an additional 238,522 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,194.10. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $316.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $114.11 billion, a PE ratio of 28.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $247.08 and a 52 week high of $322.57. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $286.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $275.74.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

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.