Portfolio Design Labs LLC Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Portfolio Design Labs LLC purchased a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $994,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,344,000 after buying an additional 7,397 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.5%

CME stock opened at $270.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $97.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $251.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.68.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.