Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 18,281 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,399,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,281 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $928,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $257.40 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.21. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $288.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $288.67. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $244.56 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $305.29.

CME Group 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.