CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Bought by JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd increased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 223,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,819 shares during the period. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd owned approximately 0.06% of CME Group worth $51,991,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,952,273,000 after acquiring an additional 326,623 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the 4th 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 acquiring 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 4th 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 acquiring an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its position in CME Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $947,821,000 after buying an additional 61,908 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America increased their target price on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $256.80.

CME Group Stock Up 0.8%

CME stock traded up $2.29 on Friday, hitting $276.29. 1,512,331 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,175,081. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $286.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $265.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $246.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $99.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.30%.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Larry G. Gerdes sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.10, for a total transaction of $528,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,651 shares in the company, valued at $10,207,729.10. This represents a 4.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,134 shares of company stock worth $6,087,434 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.