Saxon Interests Inc. Increases Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Saxon Interests Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 21.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 702 shares during the period. Saxon Interests Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $724,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 26,434,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,062,796,000 after purchasing an additional 409,290 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in CME Group by 6.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,708,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,476,304,000 after buying an additional 486,634 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,085,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,355,370,000 after buying an additional 108,740 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 21.6% in the first quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,159,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $988,220,000 after buying an additional 916,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in CME Group by 22.4% during the first quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 4,236,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $811,293,000 after buying an additional 774,832 shares during the period. 85.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on CME Group from $169.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America raised shares of CME Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $167.00 to $204.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $211.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 10,102 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.68, for a total transaction of $2,007,065.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,463,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 10,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.68, for a total transaction of $2,007,065.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,463,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.95, for a total value of $6,118,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 65,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,367,902.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,391 shares of company stock worth $11,905,049 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of CME stock traded down $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $206.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 354,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,585,495. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $166.54 and a 1-year high of $209.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $199.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $189.75. The company has a market capitalization of $74.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.88% and a return on equity of 11.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.02 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 8th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 7th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.72%.

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.