CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Acquired by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 9.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 965,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 87,065 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $285,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in CME Group by 103.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after buying an additional 121,707 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 1,325.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after buying an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after buying an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $246.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $89.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $259.27 and a 200-day moving average of $282.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This represents 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price 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. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.12.

CME Group 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.