National Bank of Canada FI Has $99.79 Million Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 362,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,956 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in CME Group were worth $99,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi raised its holdings in CME Group by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $548,150,000 after acquiring an additional 385,225 shares in the last quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 310.2% in the second quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Investors Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Spolka Akcyjna bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,389,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in CME Group by 10.0% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 64,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,312,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $637,300,000 after purchasing an additional 225,449 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,147 shares of company stock valued at $562,079 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $273.55 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $271.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.22. The firm has a market cap of $98.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.28. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $224.62 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.68 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CME. Bank of America boosted their price target on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Citigroup upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Argus cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $290.00.

About CME Group

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.