Norges Bank Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,768,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,389,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.32% of CME Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LM Advisors LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $822,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 23,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,475,000 after acquiring an additional 6,136 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 24,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,727,000 after purchasing an additional 3,323 shares during the last quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o. bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $139,000. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in CME Group by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 524,885 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $121,894,000 after purchasing an additional 21,042 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.93.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $261.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.08, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $249.06 and a 200 day moving average of $235.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $267.91.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.25 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.71%.

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.