Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Raises Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 32.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,016 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in CME Group were worth $11,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CME. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,571,447,000. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $164,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after purchasing an additional 532,549 shares during the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in CME Group by 131,625.5% during the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 486,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,970,000 after purchasing an additional 485,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HRT Financial LP purchased a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth $127,103,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CME shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $263.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $307.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.06.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total transaction of $263,530.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. This trade represents a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $262.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $225.46 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.27. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $273.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.89.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.45%.

About CME Group

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.