Sarasin & Partners LLP Purchases 383,581 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 41.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,314,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 383,581 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up about 3.4% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned 0.36% of CME Group worth $290,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in CME Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,408,747,000 after acquiring an additional 56,725 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of CME Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,344,776,000 after acquiring an additional 134,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,319,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,179,858,000 after purchasing an additional 222,890 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $264.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $249.44 and its 200-day moving average is $280.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CME shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. TD Cowen cut their price target on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

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.