82,557 Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME Bought by SEB Asset Management AB

SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 82,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,383,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Asset Dedication LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on CME. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $353.00 to $324.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.12.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $245.05 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $258.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $282.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.18 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.37%.

CME Group Company 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.