Cumberland Partners Ltd Buys 7,200 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Cumberland Partners Ltd boosted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 720.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,307,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,539,618,000 after acquiring an additional 130,698 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 3.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,524,271,000 after purchasing an additional 319,899 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group during the second quarter worth about $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,682,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,289,910,000 after purchasing an additional 92,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of CME Group by 6.6% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,056,476,000 after purchasing an additional 238,522 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Down 0.2%

CME Group stock opened at $302.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $246.68 and a fifty-two week high of $309.35. The stock has a market cap of $109.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $281.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $274.50.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a positive change 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 currently 44.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on CME shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Argus reduced their price target on CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.53.

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.