CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Purchased by Shell Asset Management Co.

Shell Asset Management Co. boosted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 18.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sig Brokerage LP acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $763,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 127,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,524,000 after acquiring an additional 5,049 shares during the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $624,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 85,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,904,000 after acquiring an additional 7,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total transaction of $271,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,915 shares in the company, valued at $790,781.20. The trade was a 25.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,134 shares of company stock worth $6,087,434. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $276.29 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $265.86 and a 200 day moving average of $247.33. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $286.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 50.30%.

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.