Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $44.10 Million Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 29.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 161,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,960 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in CME Group were worth $44,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Asset Dedication LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID grew its stake in CME Group by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in CME Group by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anfield Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 197.4% during the fourth quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, April 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $305.29.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $257.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.21. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $288.35 and its 200 day moving average is $288.60. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $244.56 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 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 Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.37%.

CME Group 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.