CPC Advisors LLC Purchases 24,804 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

CPC Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2,710.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 24,804 shares during the period. CPC Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First United Bank & Trust grew its position in CME Group by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 5,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,372,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth $171,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 36,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,758 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the third quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 11,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,083,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in CME Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,226,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CME. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on CME Group from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 10th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.06.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the acquisition, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. This represents a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of CME stock opened at $264.98 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $273.96 and a 200 day moving average of $271.83. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $225.46 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $95.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.27.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

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.