CME Group Inc. $CME is J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s 10th Largest Position

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG reduced its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 376,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 61,065 shares during the quarter. CME Group comprises approximately 1.7% of J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG owned approximately 0.10% of CME Group worth $102,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in CME Group by 107.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,029,000 after purchasing an additional 777,571 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at $164,648,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in CME Group by 23.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,830,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $764,725,000 after purchasing an additional 528,358 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $297.58 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $303.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $282.12. The firm has a market cap of $106.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.59%.

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.