CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Acquired by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Key Points

• Erste Asset Management more than doubled its stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter, buying an additional 33,026 shares to bring its total holding to 64,110 shares valued at about $17.85 million.
• CME Group shares were down 2.1% in recent trading, opening at $252.03, well below the stock’s 52-week high of $329.16.
• The company beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $3.36 on revenue of $1.88 billion, and it also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share.

Erste Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 106.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 64,110 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 33,026 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH's holdings in CME Group were worth $17,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,802,366,000 after buying an additional 588,509 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,344,776,000 after buying an additional 134,242 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,300,450,000 after buying an additional 130,848 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,197,668 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,146,593,000 after buying an additional 87,411 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $252.03 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $244.56 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $91.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $287.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $288.47.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.37%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 27,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $305.29.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.