Czech National Bank Has $21.96 Million Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 5.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 82,768 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,635 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank's holdings in CME Group were worth $21,958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $871,063,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 32,941.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,858,887 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $493,144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,261 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $565,671,000 after purchasing an additional 996,498 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $256.80.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded down $8.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $282.31. 2,745,669 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,189,541. The company has a market cap of $101.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.19, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $270.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $251.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $290.79.

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, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. CME Group's payout ratio is 50.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $81,951.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,767 shares in the company, valued at $6,765,601.39. This trade represents a 1.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total transaction of $141,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,668 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,916.56. The trade was a 12.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,900 shares of company stock worth $6,147,935 over the last ninety days. Company 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.