KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys 7,800 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 185,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,800 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in CME Group were worth $51,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 84.3% during the second quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.1% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 3,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 1.0%

CME opened at $262.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $94.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.41. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.94 and a 12 month high of $290.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $269.74 and a 200 day moving average of $271.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 258,459 shares in the company, valued at $68,540,742.21. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,470,463.64. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays set a $298.00 price target on CME Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $274.15.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.