Russell Investments Group Ltd. Acquires 151,857 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,194,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 151,857 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $326,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CME. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 345.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,965,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Dover Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 95.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 5,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 2,734 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,122,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 32.5% during the third quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 50,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,773,000 after purchasing an additional 12,503 shares during the period. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 114,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of CME stock opened at $261.60 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $283.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.95. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $244.56 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.21.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.71.

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.