Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Acquires 5,810 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 50.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,810 shares during the quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 570.6% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CME. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America increased their price objective on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $256.80.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other 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 value of $271,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $790,781.20. The trade was a 25.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total value of $1,304,836.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,339,164.96. This represents a 35.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,134 shares of company stock valued at $6,087,434 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $274.00 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two 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 has a market capitalization of $98.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.34, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $265.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.70.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.50 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.30%.

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.