CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Acquired by Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC

Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC lifted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares during the period. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,451,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,044,821,000 after buying an additional 215,044 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in CME Group by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,809,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,403,557,000 after acquiring an additional 3,069,806 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in CME Group by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,589,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,072,654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172,575 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in CME Group by 2.9% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,793,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,462,678,000 after acquiring an additional 189,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,667,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,193,551,000 after purchasing an additional 23,583 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America cut CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $212.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $209.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,399,936.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,399,936.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the transaction, the director now owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $220.50 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $203.51 and a 200-day moving average of $207.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $223.80. The company has a market cap of $79.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 6.51 and a beta of 0.52.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.98% and a return on equity of 12.82%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.89 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, September 25th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

About CME Group

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.