Global X Japan Co. Ltd. Boosts Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 434.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,345 shares during the quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,154,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter worth about $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter worth about $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 107.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $406,029,000 after purchasing an additional 777,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $164,648,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $297.58 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $302.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.66, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.52 EPS. On average, 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 46.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.06.

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.