Waycross Investment Management Co Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Waycross Investment Management Co purchased a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,034,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY raised its holdings in CME Group by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $277.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $99.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $256.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $278.50.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

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.