Cypress Capital Group Acquires 726 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Cypress Capital Group raised its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the period. CME Group accounts for about 1.2% of Cypress Capital Group’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in CME Group were worth $9,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer increased their target price on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $281.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total value of $102,704.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0%

CME stock opened at $271.45 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.94 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $97.83 billion, a PE ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $268.89 and a 200 day moving average of $271.29.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.40%.

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.