Rathbones Group PLC Grows Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Rathbones Group PLC increased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 988,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 51,570 shares during the period. CME Group comprises about 1.1% of Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $267,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,307,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,539,618,000 after acquiring an additional 130,698 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 3.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,524,271,000 after purchasing an additional 319,899 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group during the second quarter worth about $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,682,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,289,910,000 after purchasing an additional 92,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.6% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,056,476,000 after purchasing an additional 238,522 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of CME opened at $317.10 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $114.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $292.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $277.66.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares in the company, valued at $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Company Profile

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.