DAVENPORT & Co LLC Has $6.77 Million Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 112.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,109 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB bought a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $3,488,000. Avanza Fonder AB boosted its stake in CME Group by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 32,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,949,000 after buying an additional 3,526 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $232,000. Finally, Clear Trail Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $10,014,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the transaction, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 a total of 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.06.

CME Group Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $297.58 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $302.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.37. The stock has a market cap of $106.72 billion, a PE ratio of 26.66, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. 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.