Rathbones Group PLC Acquires 51,570 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC raised its stake in CME Group by 5.5% during the third quarter, purchasing 51,570 shares to hold 988,928 shares (about $267.2M), making CME its 21st-largest position.
• Institutional ownership is high at 87.75%, with large recent moves including new or expanded positions from Norges Bank, Strive Asset Management, Mawer, Viking Global and additional buying by Vanguard.
• CME beat quarterly estimates (EPS $2.77 vs. $2.75; revenue $1.65B, +8.1% YoY) and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 (ex-dividend Mar 10, payable Mar 26), a $5.20 annualized payout (~1.6% yield).

Rathbones Group PLC raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 5.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 988,928 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 51,570 shares during the period. CME Group comprises about 1.1% of Rathbones Group PLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Rathbones Group PLC owned 0.27% of CME Group worth $267,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,571,447,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 107.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $406,029,000 after purchasing an additional 777,571 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth $164,648,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,695,313,000 after purchasing an additional 532,549 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock worth $8,355,450. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1%

CME opened at $317.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $292.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $277.66. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $248.53 and a twelve month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CME. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen upped their target price on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.71.

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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