CME Group Inc. $CME Stock: Russell Investments Group Ltd. Raises Position

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,193,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 83,770 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.33% of CME Group worth $312,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1,013.4% during the third quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. now owns 561,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $147,407,000 after purchasing an additional 511,215 shares during the period. PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 6.6% in the third quarter. PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators now owns 54,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,233,000 after purchasing an additional 3,370 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 9.0% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in CME Group by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 21,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,733,000 after buying an additional 2,574 shares during the period. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in CME Group by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 8,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,211,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CME. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $292.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $337.00 to $359.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 target price (up from $295.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of CME Group from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $367.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.44.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 10,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.15, for a total value of $3,075,606.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 21,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,555,232.30. This represents a 31.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.00, for a total transaction of $606,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,021,519. This represents a 9.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 33,511 shares of company stock worth $9,714,580 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $315.50 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $285.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.38. The company has a market capitalization of $112.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.88, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.15.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $3.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.99 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 63.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 11th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.66%.

About CME Group

CME Group operates a global marketplace for derivatives and other financial products. Through its exchanges—CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX—it offers futures and options contracts tied to interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. The company also provides clearing and settlement services, market data and related products. Its electronic trading platform, CME Globex, supports access to its markets by participants around the world, alongside its open-outcry and privately negotiated trading services.