Perpetual Ltd Has $735,000 Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Perpetual Ltd lessened its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 98.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 147,799 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Caldwell Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 116.3% during the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Sagard Holdings Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CME. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.06.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $305.11 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.42 billion, a PE ratio of 27.34, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.26. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $304.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $283.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share 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 given a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

CME Group Company Profile

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.