Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Lowers Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ decreased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 112,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,713 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ’s holdings in CME Group were worth $33,314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $1,523,241,000. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter valued at about $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter worth about $636,487,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 746.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,720,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $217,656,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 1.1%

NASDAQ CME opened at $218.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $79.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.21. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $271.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $285.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CME. UBS Group reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, June 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.24.

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.