LGT Group Foundation Acquires 8,731 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

LGT Group Foundation lifted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 232,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,731 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in CME Group were worth $61,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caldwell Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 116.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC acquired a new position in CME Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $809,700. The trade was a 21.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $317.10 on Monday. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $292.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $277.68. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.24.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.71.

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.