GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd Invests $15.85 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 71,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,847,000. CME Group comprises about 2.2% of GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Korea Investment CORP acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,974,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,758,000. Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $752,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $3,394,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $3,042,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $274.98 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $98.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $251.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.65. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.56.

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.