Syntax Research Inc. Invests $787,000 in CME Group Inc. $CME

Syntax Research Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $787,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 5.1% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 75,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,711,000 after purchasing an additional 3,675 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 58,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,933,000 after purchasing an additional 4,684 shares in the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,390,000. Waycross Investment Management Co acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,034,000. Finally, Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,092,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $282.05 on Friday. 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 one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $101.42 billion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $257.55 and a 200-day moving average of $278.36.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.96 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CME. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $286.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group lowered their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director William Shepard bought 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About CME Group

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.