Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $326.30 Million Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,194,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 151,857 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.33% of CME Group worth $326,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in CME Group by 103.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,918 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in CME Group by 2.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 7,397 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on CME Group in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 price objective on the stock. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.71.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $261.60 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $244.56 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $94.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $283.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.95.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.