Heartland Bank & Trust Co Invests $752,000 in CME Group Inc. $CME

Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $752,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $612,000. FLC Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,122,000. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 352,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,376,000 after buying an additional 22,692 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 132.7% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 21,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,797,000 after buying an additional 12,105 shares during the period. Finally, North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,368,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $274.98 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $251.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of 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. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine 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 company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of CME Group 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 owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.