Magellan Asset Management Ltd Increases Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 652,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,524 shares during the period. CME Group accounts for about 2.2% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $178,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $636,487,000. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $217,656,000. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $164,648,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.29.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $256.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $289.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $288.82. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $244.56 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.21.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock worth $13,297,507. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.