Perpetual Ltd Has $2.78 Million Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 41.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 11,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 70.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,038,676,000 after buying an additional 537,758 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in CME Group by 21,465.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 485,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,072,070,000 after buying an additional 483,618 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 698.0% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 544,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,384,000 after buying an additional 476,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 17.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $554,707,000 after acquiring an additional 380,071 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,652,298. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.27.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $232.25 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $249.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $233.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.25 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 EPS for the current year.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $5.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

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.