CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Bought by BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas boosted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2,154.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,181 shares during the period. BNP Paribas’ holdings in CME Group were worth $3,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $1,523,241,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $636,487,000. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $217,656,000. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 107.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $406,029,000 after buying an additional 777,571 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 5.8%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $257.76 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $93.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.99, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $257.17 and a one year high of $329.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $292.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $289.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507. 0.30% of the stock is owned by 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.