Castleark Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Castleark Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 3,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $751,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first 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 bought a new stake 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 worth approximately $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its stake in 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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 1.3%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $280.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $252.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $279.24. The stock has a market cap of $101.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.11%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the purchase, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $286.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

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.