Andra AP fonden Boosts Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Andra AP fonden raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 91.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 91,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 43,960 shares during the period. Andra AP fonden’s holdings in CME Group were worth $20,314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Altus USA Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 113.0% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. now owns 43,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,554,000 after purchasing an additional 11,228 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 161,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,851 shares during the period. Finally, Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 10.9% during the second quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 31,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,860,000 after buying an additional 3,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings cut CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Bank of America upped 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.75.

CME Group Price Performance

CME traded down $6.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $269.35. 573,253 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,575,977. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $96.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $267.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $275.31.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Elizabeth A. Cook sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.11, for a total value of $140,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 17,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,450.76. This represents a 2.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for a broad range of financial and commodity products. Its exchange platforms enable participants to manage risk, discover prices and gain exposure to asset classes including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, metals, agricultural commodities and digital assets.

The company’s principal marketplaces include CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX. Products are offered through futures and options contracts, with electronic trading available through CME Globex as well as exchange-based and privately negotiated transactions.