Leonteq Securities AG Purchases Shares of 4,142 CME Group Inc. $CME

Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 4,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,131,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.2% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $827,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlatl Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $574,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,244 shares of company stock worth $14,598,037. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $289.29 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $257.17 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $296.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $289.10. The stock has a market cap of $104.83 billion, a PE ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on CME Group in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.29.

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.