Ceera Investments LLC Has $4.60 Million Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Ceera Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. CME Group accounts for approximately 1.7% of Ceera Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 66.1% in the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 515.2% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 62.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $76,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,652,298. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,621 shares of company stock worth $3,441,063. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CME. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on CME Group in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on CME Group from $219.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $224.47.

CME Group Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $225.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.69, a PEG ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.55. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $210.37.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.