Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd Invests $12.77 Million in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 55,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,773,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in CME Group by 89.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $871,063,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $565,671,000 after purchasing an additional 996,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP bought a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $223,967,000. 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 recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays lifted their price objective on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $256.80.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $268.34 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $286.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $265.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $246.25. The firm has a market cap of $96.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total transaction of $271,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $790,781.20. The trade was a 25.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,726 shares of company stock valued at $8,975,813. Company 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.