Magellan Asset Management Ltd Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 36,996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,170,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY grew its holdings in CME Group by 2.3% during the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $274.98 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 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. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $251.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $279.57. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.96 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of several analyst reports. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Bank of America lifted their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group 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.