Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $403.02 Million Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 18.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,826,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 283,171 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in CME Group were worth $403,017,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth about $36,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 62.2% in the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in CME Group by 66.1% in the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 515.2% during the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in CME Group during the first quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $226.96 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $230.74. The firm has a market cap of $81.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $223.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $210.92.

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 analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm 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 forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at CME Group

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target 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. Redburn Atlantic cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $224.47.

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.