Prudential PLC Buys 31,616 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Prudential PLC raised its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 67.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,616 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $21,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter valued at about $1,006,932,000. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. boosted its holdings in CME Group by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. now owns 49,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,323,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in CME Group by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,474,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,532,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $684,258,000 after purchasing an additional 313,866 shares during the period. Finally, F m Investments LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. F m Investments LLC now owns 5,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $303.53.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ CME opened at $311.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $112.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $248.53 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $295.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.59%.

CME Group News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn raised its price target on CME to $347 (maintaining a “neutral” rating), implying roughly double-digit upside from recent levels and offering fresh analyst support for the shares. Rothschild Co Redburn adjusts price target on CME to 347 from 333, maintains neutral rating
• Neutral Sentiment: CME’s CEO Terry Duffy publicly warned that U.S. government intervention in oil futures markets would be highly damaging; exchanges including CME have voiced opposition to potential Treasury action. This raises policy/regulatory risk for energy derivatives but also underscores the exchange’s central role in market integrity — a factor that can support trading volumes in energy products if volatility rises. US intervention in oil futures would be ‘biblical disaster’, CME warns CME Group CEO warns against US intervention in oil futures markets US intervention in oil futures market could be disastrous: CME Group
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reporting in recent feeds shows zero or nonsensical values and appears to be a data anomaly rather than a real bearish signal; treat those short-interest items with caution. (Market impact minimal until corrected.)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Ken Vroman (Chief Transformation Officer) sold about 5,160 shares (~$1.59M) and SEC filings show multiple recent insider sales across senior staff. While insider sales can be routine, the cadence and size may raise governance/owner-sentiment questions for some investors. CME Group’s Vroman sells $1.59 million in stock Insider Sale: Chief Transformation Officer of $CME Sells 5,160 Shares

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $809,700. The trade was a 21.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 5,248 shares of company stock valued at $1,616,700 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.