Flputnam Investment Management Co. Acquires New Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Flputnam Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 13,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,994,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.3% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.3% in the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $269.80 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $250.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.19.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results 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 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 in the previous year, the company posted $2.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. 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 currently 44.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

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.