Sanders Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 3,726,755 CME Group Inc. $CME

Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,726,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,006,932,000. CME Group comprises 1.2% of Sanders Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Sanders Capital LLC owned approximately 1.03% of CME Group as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,571,447,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in 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 worth $406,029,000 after acquiring an additional 777,571 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP bought a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $164,648,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $9,695,313,000 after purchasing an additional 532,549 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the 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 sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,248 shares of company stock worth $1,616,700. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Key CME Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn raised its price target on CME to $347 (maintaining a “neutral” rating), implying roughly double-digit upside from recent levels and offering fresh analyst support for the shares. Rothschild Co Redburn adjusts price target on CME to 347 from 333, maintains neutral rating
• Neutral Sentiment: CME’s CEO Terry Duffy publicly warned that U.S. government intervention in oil futures markets would be highly damaging; exchanges including CME have voiced opposition to potential Treasury action. This raises policy/regulatory risk for energy derivatives but also underscores the exchange’s central role in market integrity — a factor that can support trading volumes in energy products if volatility rises. US intervention in oil futures would be ‘biblical disaster’, CME warns CME Group CEO warns against US intervention in oil futures markets US intervention in oil futures market could be disastrous: CME Group
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reporting in recent feeds shows zero or nonsensical values and appears to be a data anomaly rather than a real bearish signal; treat those short-interest items with caution. (Market impact minimal until corrected.)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Ken Vroman (Chief Transformation Officer) sold about 5,160 shares (~$1.59M) and SEC filings show multiple recent insider sales across senior staff. While insider sales can be routine, the cadence and size may raise governance/owner-sentiment questions for some investors. CME Group’s Vroman sells $1.59 million in stock Insider Sale: Chief Transformation Officer of $CME Sells 5,160 Shares

CME Group Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $311.40 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $112.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $295.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.94.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $303.53.

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.