Mirabella Financial Services LLP Grows Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Mirabella Financial Services LLP grew its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 211.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,425 shares during the quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in CME Group by 3.6% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 41,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,474,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 12.7% during the second quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 21,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,036,000 after buying an additional 2,469 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in shares of CME Group by 16.7% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $845,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 4,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Barclays increased their price target on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.06.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $308.90 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $298.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.92. The company has a market capitalization of $111.39 billion, a PE ratio of 27.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $248.53 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of CME Group 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 sale, the director owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 5,248 shares of company stock valued at $1,616,700 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.