Westpac Banking Corp Raises Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Westpac Banking Corp raised its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 255.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,626 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in CME Group were worth $7,955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $1,107,389,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 70.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after buying an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 69.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $565,671,000 after acquiring an additional 996,498 shares during the period. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP purchased a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $223,967,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $241.53.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $262.54 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $236.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $267.91.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. On average, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Company 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.