Fulton Bank N.A. Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Fulton Bank N.A. bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,744,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 117.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 223,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,208,000 after purchasing an additional 120,931 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 13,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,622,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 4,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after buying an additional 773 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $975,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the sale, the director directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $306.56 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $248.53 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $109.94 billion, a PE ratio of 27.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $300.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $280.88.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.52 earnings per share. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.