Quantitative Investment Management LLC Makes New $6.49 Million Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Quantitative Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 29,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,494,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at $6,749,965,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in CME Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,408,747,000 after acquiring an additional 56,725 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in CME Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,344,776,000 after acquiring an additional 134,242 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,319,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,179,858,000 after acquiring an additional 222,890 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $285.80 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $253.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $278.93. The company has a market capitalization of $102.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.11%.

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.