Dearborn Partners LLC Takes $29.66 Million Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 100,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,665,000. CME Group comprises approximately 1.6% of Dearborn Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its position in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CME. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $279.17 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $251.43 and a 200-day moving average of $279.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.