Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 319,899 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 319,899 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.55% of CME Group worth $2,524,271,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AIA Group Ltd raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 17.8% in the first quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,510 shares during the last quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in CME Group by 34.1% during the first quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 58,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,570,000 after buying an additional 14,910 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in CME Group by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 8,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in CME Group by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 64,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Investors Management Corp purchased a new position in CME Group during the 1st quarter worth $298,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $278.84 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $100.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $222.56 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $266.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $272.60.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Argus dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Barclays cut their target price on CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $286.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the sale, the insider owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 14,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,791,486 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.