Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. Reduces Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. reduced its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 53,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 51,872 shares during the period. CME Group comprises 4.0% of Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $14,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,695,313,000 after buying an additional 532,549 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,524,271,000 after acquiring an additional 319,899 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,682,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,289,910,000 after purchasing an additional 92,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,056,476,000 after purchasing an additional 238,522 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ CME opened at $276.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $99.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a 50 day moving average of $272.96 and a 200-day moving average of $271.79. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $224.62 and a 1-year high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The company’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.45%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $263.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $290.82.

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.