CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Bought by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 32.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,016 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in CME Group were worth $11,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $9,695,313,000 after purchasing an additional 532,549 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,524,271,000 after buying an additional 319,899 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 2.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,682,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,289,910,000 after buying an additional 92,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in CME Group by 6.6% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,056,476,000 after acquiring an additional 238,522 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $263.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.06.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $262.45 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $273.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $271.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $225.46 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $94.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.27.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.45%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,511.23. This trade represents a 47.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the purchase, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.