Applied Capital LLC FL Grows Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Applied Capital LLC FL raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,652,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,190,661,000 after acquiring an additional 400,737 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,091,401,000 after buying an additional 363,130 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,920,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $804,823,000 after buying an additional 84,005 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 29.9% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,818,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $747,744,000 after buying an additional 648,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $735,539,000 after buying an additional 260,065 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,508 shares in the company, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $271.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $268.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $271.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.41. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $213.94 and a one year high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CME. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 8th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $281.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $276.00 to $266.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $281.00.

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.