Southpoint Capital Advisors LP Acquires Shares of 500,000 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 500,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $116,115,000. CME Group comprises about 2.7% of Southpoint Capital Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in CME Group by 89.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $871,063,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 69.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $565,671,000 after buying an additional 996,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $223,967,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total transaction of $271,280.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $790,781.20. This represents a 25.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total transaction of $1,304,836.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,339,164.96. The trade was a 35.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,134 shares of company stock valued at $6,087,434. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $276.29 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $286.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $265.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $99.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.57, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The company’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $256.80.

CME Group Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.