CME Group Inc. $CME is Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s 6th Largest Position

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 50,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,180 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up approximately 4.6% of Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $13,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $9,539,618,000 after acquiring an additional 130,698 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $1,300,450,000 after purchasing an additional 130,848 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.6% in 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. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,006,932,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,381,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $913,548,000 after purchasing an additional 20,213 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. 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 lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.06.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $293.78 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $302.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.59%.

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.