CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Bought by Avanza Fonder AB

Avanza Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,526 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings in CME Group were worth $8,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,571,447,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth approximately $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth approximately $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 107.2% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,029,000 after purchasing an additional 777,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $164,648,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised 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. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ CME opened at $306.56 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $300.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $109.94 billion, a PE ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $248.53 and a 52 week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.52 earnings per share. CME Group’s quarterly 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 year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. 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. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

CME Group 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.