Ethic Inc. Purchases 4,468 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Ethic Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 62,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,468 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $17,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caldwell Trust Co increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on CME. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.29.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 7,791 shares of company stock worth $2,489,421 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 2.0%

CME opened at $281.25 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.17 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $301.50 and a 200-day moving average of $287.27. The stock has a market cap of $101.91 billion, a PE ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

About CME Group

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.