PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Buys 22,570 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 152,789 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 22,570 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $33,713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 0.6% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,810 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,723,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 11.8% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich now owns 7,667 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,530 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 593 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $228.00 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $230.74. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $223.21 and its 200 day moving average is $210.81. The firm has a market cap of $82.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.97, a P/E/G ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.55.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share 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 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 business earned $2.25 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. CME Group's payout ratio is 48.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CME. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $219.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $244.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $224.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 7,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,652,298. This represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,621 shares of company stock valued at $3,441,063. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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.