Danske Bank A S Invests $53.13 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 196,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,127,000. Danske Bank A S owned about 0.05% of CME Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caldwell Trust Co increased its stake in CME Group by 116.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.06.

CME Group Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of CME opened at $308.90 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $248.53 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $298.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $279.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.24.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 46.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the sale, the director owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at $809,700. This 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 5,248 shares of company stock valued at $1,616,700 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.