CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Acquired by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp increased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,943,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 403,920 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in CME Group were worth $915,788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 570.6% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 120.3% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $256.80.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,076 shares of company stock valued at $7,399,696 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $267.92 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $273.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $96.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $259.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.41.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.25 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.30%.

CME Group Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.