Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 57,600 CME Group Inc. $CME

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 57,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,563,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth about $1,571,447,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 107.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,029,000 after buying an additional 777,571 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $164,648,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,695,313,000 after acquiring an additional 532,549 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. The trade was a 21.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of CME stock opened at $319.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $115.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.59, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $292.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.00.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The company’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.52 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on CME shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America boosted their price target on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.71.

CME Group 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.