Fulton Bank N.A. Purchases Shares of 6,387 CME Group Inc. $CME

Fulton Bank N.A. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,744,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,307,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,539,618,000 after buying an additional 130,698 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth approximately $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 2.8% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,300,450,000 after acquiring an additional 130,848 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in CME Group by 6.6% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 238,522 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,006,932,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.06.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $306.56 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $109.94 billion, a PE ratio of 27.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $300.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $280.88. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.59%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821. Corporate 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.