Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Raises Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its CME Group stake by 155.1% in Q1, ending with 13,444 shares valued at about $3.97 million.
• Insider selling was notable: CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares and insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares, while insiders overall hold just 0.30% of the stock.
• CME Group beat quarterly expectations with $3.36 EPS on $1.88 billion in revenue, and it also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share for an annualized yield of 2.3%.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 155.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,444 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,174 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise's holdings in CME Group were worth $3,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 345.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $64,965,000 after acquiring an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $2,122,000. First Bank & Trust purchased a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,325,000. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in CME Group by 41.6% during the third quarter. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd now owns 191,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $51,731,000 after purchasing an additional 56,259 shares during the period. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 140,210 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $38,289,000 after buying an additional 3,931 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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 research report on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Argus restated a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of CME Group from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $302.24.

CME Group Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $225.00 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $81.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.20, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $286.20. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $224.40 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.

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