Dearborn Partners LLC Buys 82,960 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Dearborn Partners LLC lifted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 712.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,960 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $25,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 345.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,965,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares during the period. Dover Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 95.5% in the third quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 5,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 2,734 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 32.5% in the third quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 50,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,773,000 after purchasing an additional 12,503 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.6% in the third quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 114,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares during the period. Finally, First Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,325,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, May 29th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $305.29.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of CME opened at $257.40 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $244.56 and a 52 week 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 company has a market capitalization of $93.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $288.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $288.60.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.