CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Bought by Plato Investment Management Ltd

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,392,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 24.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,596,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $730,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $244,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in CME Group by 16.1% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 371,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,055,000 after acquiring an additional 51,689 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CME. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America increased their target price on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Redburn Atlantic lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $224.47.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,932,706.13. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at $11,932,706.13. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,621 shares of company stock valued at $3,441,063 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $228.14 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $82.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.99, a PEG ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $222.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.04. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $230.36.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

CME Group Profile

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.