Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. Lowers Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. lessened its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 41.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 27,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,506 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up 2.7% of Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,408,747,000 after purchasing an additional 56,725 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 134,242 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in 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 worth $1,179,858,000 after purchasing an additional 222,890 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays reduced their target price on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Bank of America increased their target price on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

CME Group Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $262.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.44 billion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $249.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick 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, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.11%.

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.