CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Purchased by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 43.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 117,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,700 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in CME Group were worth $32,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its holdings in CME Group by 206.9% in the 2nd quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 122.2% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 84.3% in the 2nd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 612.5% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CME Group from $312.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Barclays decreased their price target on CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $284.53.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $271.09 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.94 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $266.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $272.02. The firm has a market cap of $97.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.27, a PEG ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.41.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.CME Group’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total transaction of $102,704.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the sale, the insider owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Profile

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.