Banco Santander S.A. Purchases 61,054 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Banco Santander S.A. grew its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 125.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,054 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $24,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 416.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 21,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,599,000 after buying an additional 17,230 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. lifted its position in CME Group by 11.7% during the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 2,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $315,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 75.7% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 547,913 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $117,960,000 after purchasing an additional 236,017 shares during the period. Finally, Keeley Teton Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 93.6% in the 1st quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC now owns 2,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on CME Group from $219.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $224.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $312,062.88. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,652,298. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,621 shares of company stock worth $3,441,063. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of CME stock opened at $228.00 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $230.74. The stock has a market cap of $82.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a PEG ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $223.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $210.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.37%.

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.