CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Bought by Meyer Handelman Co.

Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 71,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,977 shares during the quarter. Meyer Handelman Co.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $19,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CME. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter worth approximately $7,099,000. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $400,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 1,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $639,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB raised its position in shares of CME Group by 10.1% during the third quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 29,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,901,000 after purchasing an additional 2,688 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the director owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $276.73 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $273.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $271.85. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $224.62 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $99.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CME. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $290.82.

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.