Bank of Montreal Can Boosts Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 41.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,028,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 303,169 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in CME Group were worth $224,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Waverly Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the first quarter worth approximately $1,769,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in CME Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 580,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $125,002,000 after purchasing an additional 3,476 shares during the last quarter. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd increased its stake in CME Group by 1.0% in the first quarter. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd now owns 7,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Garner Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.3% in the first quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 11,885 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,559,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 617.3% during the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 14,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,141,000 after buying an additional 12,555 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on CME shares. Redburn Atlantic downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $224.47.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the sale, the director now owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. This represents a 12.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,621 shares of company stock valued at $3,441,063 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of CME opened at $229.37 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $230.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.12, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $223.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.19.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

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.