Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 183,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,706 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $49,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Korea Investment CORP lifted its stake in CME Group by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 236,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,002,000 after acquiring an additional 7,120 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.3% in the third quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 146,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,619,000 after acquiring an additional 3,227 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 32.3% in the third quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 22,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,148,000 after acquiring an additional 5,554 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,442,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 18.6% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’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 value of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 value of $6,738,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 30,248 shares of company stock worth $8,355,450 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. 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 note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.71.

CME Group Stock Up 0.6%

CME stock opened at $319.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $115.06 billion, a PE ratio of 28.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $292.99 and its 200 day moving average is $278.00. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $248.53 and a one year high of $329.16.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. 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. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.80%.

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.