Strs Ohio Has $28.84 Million Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Strs Ohio trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 105,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,483 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in CME Group were worth $28,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 11.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in CME Group by 103.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 1,325.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,497,000 after acquiring an additional 21,918 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in CME Group by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 7,397 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.29.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $289.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $303.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $286.68. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.17 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $104.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.37%.

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.