CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Acquired by Global X Japan Co. Ltd.

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 434.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,345 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CME. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.7% during the second quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $827,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Atlatl Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $574,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1248 Management LLC increased its position in CME Group by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $297.58 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $302.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.37. The company has a market capitalization of $106.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.66, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.