Westpac Banking Corp Lowers Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Westpac Banking Corp decreased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 25.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 33,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,453 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up approximately 0.7% of Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in CME Group were worth $9,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 121,707 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after buying an additional 21,918 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of CME Group by 2.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 3.1%

CME opened at $237.41 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $256.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $281.68. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.18 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.12.

CME Group Company 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.