Silver Oak Securities Incorporated Purchases New Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME

Silver Oak Securities Incorporated acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $560,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after acquiring an additional 532,549 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 worth $2,524,271,000 after purchasing an additional 319,899 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 2.0% in 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 lifted its position in 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 valued at $1,056,476,000 after buying an additional 238,522 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $269.68 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $272.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.25 billion, a PE ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $224.62 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.45%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the acquisition, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was 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 directly owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on CME Group from $264.00 to $263.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $290.82.

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.