Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Purchases 36,960 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden increased its stake in CME Group by 29.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 36,960 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 161,477 shares worth about $44.1 million.
• Insider selling was notable: CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares, and General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares, with insiders selling 44,044 shares over the last three months.
• CME Group beat earnings and revenue estimates for the latest quarter, reporting EPS of $3.36 on revenue of $1.88 billion, and the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share payable June 25.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 29.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 161,477 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 36,960 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in CME Group were worth $44,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FLC Capital Advisors bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $2,122,000. SlateStone Wealth LLC raised its position in CME Group by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 8,118 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,217,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,304 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC raised its position in CME Group by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 79,965 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,837,000 after acquiring an additional 1,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in shares of CME Group by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 21,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,949,000 after purchasing an additional 2,944 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $305.29.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $257.40 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $244.56 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.96, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.21. The company's 50-day moving average is $288.35 and its 200-day moving average is $288.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. CME Group's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.37%.

CME Group Profile

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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