Meeder Asset Management Inc. Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,693,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $6,749,965,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in CME Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,408,747,000 after purchasing an additional 56,725 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in CME Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,344,776,000 after purchasing an additional 134,242 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.81.

CME Group Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ CME opened at $271.54 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $97.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $250.82 and a 200-day moving average of $279.97.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. CME Group’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

CME Group Company Profile

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.