Cercano Management LLC Makes New $303,000 Investment in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Cercano Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,303 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,952,273,000 after acquiring an additional 326,623 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,946,717,000 after buying an additional 104,697 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $947,821,000 after acquiring an additional 61,908 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $269.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $256.80.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock traded up $2.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $284.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 953,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,155,183. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $286.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $264.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.67.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. CME Group's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is 50.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,726 shares of company stock valued at $8,975,813 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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.