Westpac Banking Corp Grows Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Westpac Banking Corp raised its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,295 shares during the quarter. CME Group accounts for about 0.8% of Westpac Banking Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in CME Group were worth $11,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 7,676.3% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,205,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $584,975,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,685 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 370.5% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $704,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,935 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $218,842,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 185.5% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,244,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $330,182,000 after purchasing an additional 808,740 shares during the period. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP increased its position in shares of CME Group by 79.4% during the 1st quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP now owns 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $459,003,000 after purchasing an additional 765,773 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on CME Group from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $287.65.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $285.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $102.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $267.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.85. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $222.56 and a 1 year high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 258,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,043 shares of company stock worth $3,791,486. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.