Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $7.69 Million Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Kentucky Retirement Systems lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 15.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,026 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,447 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in CME Group were worth $7,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 1,325.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 7,397 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $265.44 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $96.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company’s fifty day moving average is $251.79 and its 200 day moving average is $281.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.81.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.