Russell Investments Group Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 9.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 933,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,620 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $257,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 206.9% during the second quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 84.3% during 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. Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 59.2% in the second quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 105.0% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,540,742.21. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,147 shares of company stock worth $562,079 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $287.71.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $276.98 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $269.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $272.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $224.62 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

CME Group Company 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.