CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) is Egerton Capital UK LLP's 6th Largest Position

Egerton Capital UK LLP boosted its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 79.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 765,773 shares during the quarter. CME Group comprises 5.3% of Egerton Capital UK LLP's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Egerton Capital UK LLP owned 0.48% of CME Group worth $459,003,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,946,717,000 after buying an additional 104,697 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,107,389,000. FIL Ltd boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $947,821,000 after buying an additional 61,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,943,454 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $915,788,000 after buying an additional 403,920 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of CME stock traded up $2.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $279.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,834,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,117,443. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.44. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $193.25 and a one year high of $290.79. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $276.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $262.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $261.93.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total transaction of $132,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,300,215. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 256 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 258,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,400 shares of company stock valued at $3,152,410 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

About CME Group

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.