Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Reduces Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 919,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,511 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up approximately 0.9% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $202,872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 21.2% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 48,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,477,000 after purchasing an additional 8,443 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 429.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 47,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,231,000 after buying an additional 38,540 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in CME Group by 12.2% in the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 30,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,156,000 after purchasing an additional 3,325 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 4.7% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 99,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,518,000 after purchasing an additional 4,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 197.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,306,000 after buying an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their target price on CME Group from $219.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on CME Group in a report on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $224.47.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $1.02 on Monday, hitting $226.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,905,908. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $230.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $222.62 and a 200-day moving average of $210.39. The company has a market capitalization of $81.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.55.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total value of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. This represents a 12.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. This trade represents a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,621 shares of company stock worth $3,441,063 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About CME Group

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.