CME Group Inc. $CME Stock Sold by Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. lessened its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 44.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,054 shares during the quarter. CME Group accounts for about 2.1% of Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. First Community Trust NA purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Bayban acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CME. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $330.00 to $337.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CME Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $292.06.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William Shepard bought 293 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $268.76 per share, with a total value of $78,746.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 263,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,761,551.64. The trade was a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Elizabeth Cook sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.11, for a total transaction of $140,055.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 17,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,450.76. This trade represents a 2.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock traded up $0.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $278.03. 1,418,779 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,522,823. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $272.29 and a 200-day moving average of $270.83. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.11%.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that enable customers to manage risk and trade futures and options contracts. Its exchanges offer products linked to interest rates, equity indexes, foreign currencies, agricultural commodities, energy, metals and other asset classes.

The company also provides central counterparty clearing, settlement and related risk-management services for transactions conducted on its markets. In addition, CME Group offers market data, benchmark products and technology services that support trading, analysis and connectivity for financial institutions, businesses, professional traders and other market participants.

CME Group’s history includes the Chicago Board of Trade, founded in 1848, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, established in 1898.