3,370 CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Acquired by PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators

PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators grew its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,370 shares during the quarter. PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators’ holdings in CME Group were worth $14,233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $612,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter worth $1,513,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth $53,671,000. Haverford Trust Co bought a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth $13,818,000. Finally, Bowie Capital Management LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth $22,991,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of CME Group from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $367.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. CLSA set a $367.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $314.44.

CME Group Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $315.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $285.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.38. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.88, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.15.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $3.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.99 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 63.33%. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 11th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 42.66%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Daniel Kaye sold 532 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.17, for a total transaction of $161,818.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,311,885.21. This trade represents a 10.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 10,079 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.15, for a total transaction of $3,075,606.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 21,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,555,232.30. This trade represents a 31.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 33,511 shares of company stock worth $9,714,580 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About CME Group

CME Group operates a global marketplace for derivatives and other financial products. Through its exchanges—CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX—it offers futures and options contracts tied to interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. The company also provides clearing and settlement services, market data and related products. Its electronic trading platform, CME Globex, supports access to its markets by participants around the world, alongside its open-outcry and privately negotiated trading services.