National Bank of Canada FI Boosts Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 567,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,427 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in CME Group were worth $117,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $972,863,000 after buying an additional 1,163,103 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,029,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $806,841,000 after purchasing an additional 70,588 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,668,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $734,435,000 after purchasing an additional 172,264 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 3.6% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,579,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $716,604,000 after buying an additional 125,263 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in CME Group by 6.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,465,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $693,847,000 after buying an additional 217,101 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CME. Argus increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $217.80.

CME Group Price Performance

CME traded up $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $207.65. 2,065,362 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,765,130. The company has a market capitalization of $74.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.73 and a 1 year high of $223.80. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $214.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 52.33%.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.