National Pension Service Purchases 17,744 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 681,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,744 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.19% of CME Group worth $143,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of CME Group by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $972,863,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163,103 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $113,772,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $86,424,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in CME Group by 31.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,605,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,395,000 after acquiring an additional 386,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,465,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $693,847,000 after acquiring an additional 217,101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $187.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, April 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $217.80.

CME Group Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of CME stock traded up $3.50 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $211.84. 1,708,217 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,786,597. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $213.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $211.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.73 and a 52-week high of $223.80.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.