Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Buys 118 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 9.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in CME Group were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 11.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,038,676,000 after purchasing an additional 537,758 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in CME Group by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,029,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $595,530,000 after buying an additional 94,302 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,371,000 after buying an additional 176,004 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 137.6% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,260,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,443,000 after acquiring an additional 1,309,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 3.7% in the second quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 1,311,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $257,836,000 after acquiring an additional 46,276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,932,706.13. This represents a 12.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. This represents a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,621 shares of company stock worth $3,441,063. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $229.04 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $82.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.09. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $230.74.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on CME shares. Redburn Atlantic cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $224.47.

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.