Quantitative Investment Management LLC Buys New Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME

Quantitative Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 29,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,494,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 198,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,814,000 after acquiring an additional 9,218 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp increased its position in shares of CME Group by 2.4% during the second quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 13,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,920,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. Two Sigma Securities LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 80.0% during the second quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 16,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,684,000 after purchasing an additional 7,417 shares during the period. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 19.4% in the second quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. now owns 22,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 3,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at $464,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $285.80 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $253.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $278.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. CME Group’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company 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 yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $286.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

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.