Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd Buys Shares of 55,000 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 55,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,773,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in CME Group by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 78,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,145,000 after purchasing an additional 4,778 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in CME Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 34,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,026,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,051,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,756,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on CME shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their target price on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.80.

CME Group Trading Down 0.8%

CME Group stock opened at $268.34 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $286.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $96.70 billion, a PE ratio of 27.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $265.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $246.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total transaction of $271,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $790,781.20. This trade represents a 25.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total value of $1,304,836.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,339,164.96. This trade represents a 35.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,726 shares of company stock worth $8,975,813 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.