Danske Bank A S Acquires New Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 228,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $50,384,000. Danske Bank A S owned 0.06% of CME Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID raised its position in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

CME Group Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of CME stock opened at $271.54 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $250.82 and its 200-day moving average is $279.97. The stock has a market cap of $97.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.