Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Increases Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 4.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,851 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,176 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in CME Group were worth $7,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in CME Group by 89.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 32,941.0% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,366,786 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $781,869,000 after purchasing an additional 939,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 4,216.2% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 922,805 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $214,301,000 after purchasing an additional 901,425 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $282.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $261.80.

CME Group Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $275.00 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.25 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The firm's fifty day moving average is $275.89 and its 200 day moving average is $261.04. The company has a market cap of $99.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.67, a PEG ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 0.44.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.71% and a return on equity of 14.03%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. CME Group's payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total transaction of $817,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,471,824. This represents a 35.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Phyllis M. Lockett sold 1,060 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.88, for a total value of $294,552.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,108 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $863,651.04. The trade was a 25.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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