Cullen Investment Group LTD. Decreases Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Cullen Investment Group LTD. decreased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 36.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 24,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,253 shares during the quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,307,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,539,618,000 after purchasing an additional 130,698 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,300,450,000 after purchasing an additional 130,848 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,056,476,000 after purchasing an additional 238,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,006,932,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $293.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $301.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.25. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 46.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CME. TD Cowen raised their price target on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.06.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About CME Group

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.