55,716 Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME Acquired by Headlands Technologies LLC

Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 55,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,304,000. CME Group accounts for 1.3% of Headlands Technologies LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter worth about $612,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $53,671,000. FLC Capital Advisors purchased a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,122,000. Haverford Trust Co purchased a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,818,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 352,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,376,000 after purchasing an additional 22,692 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $285.80 on Monday. The firm has a market cap 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $253.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.93. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one 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.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. TD Cowen lowered 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $288.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.