UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Purchases 315,813 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 14.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,437,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 315,813 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $566,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after acquiring an additional 326,623 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,946,717,000 after acquiring an additional 104,697 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in CME Group by 89.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after acquiring an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $947,821,000 after acquiring an additional 61,908 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $256.80.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $277.87 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $266.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $247.92. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $286.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.13 billion, a PE ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 50.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Phyllis M. Lockett sold 1,060 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.88, for a total value of $294,552.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $863,651.04. This represents a 25.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,494 shares of company stock valued at $7,281,618. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.