Dearborn Partners LLC Purchases New Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Dearborn Partners LLC bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 100,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,665,000. CME Group comprises approximately 1.6% of Dearborn Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in CME Group during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 191.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CME. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Bank of America raised their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $279.17 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.38 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.96 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.