J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Grows Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 379,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,408 shares during the period. CME Group makes up 1.9% of J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in CME Group were worth $111,940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brindle & Bay Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Brindle & Bay Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $822,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 148.8% in the first quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,888,000 after purchasing an additional 5,848 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.1% in the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 2,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.7% in the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 462.9% in the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price objective on CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $293.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $240.27 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $87.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $262.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $283.26.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.24 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Key Stories Impacting CME Group

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CME announced new products aimed at expanding trading activity, including Treasury LINK for U.S. Treasury spread trading and a new agriculture index that offers a unified benchmark for the global farm economy. CME Group to launch Treasury LINK for enhanced US Treasury spread trading CME Group’s New Agriculture Index Delivers Unified Price Benchmark for the Global Farm Economy
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley kept an overweight rating but lowered its price target on CME to $324 from $353, while Barclays cut its target to $270 and moved to equal weight, signaling reduced near-term expectations but not a fundamentally bearish view. Morgan Stanley cuts CME price target Barclays cuts CME price target
• Negative Sentiment: The CFTC blocked CME’s plan to fast-track 24/7 crude oil futures trading, a setback that could limit a potentially important new revenue stream and raises regulatory risk around product innovation. CFTC to block CME’s plan for 24/7 crude oil futures trading CFTC Blocks for Now CME’s Plan to Offer 24/7 Oil Futures
• Negative Sentiment: Reports also pointed to weaker trading volumes and rising competition weighing on CME Group, which could pressure transaction-based revenue growth if activity remains soft. Competition And Weaker Trading Volumes Are Weighing On CME Group (CME) Stock

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.