LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Has $9.19 Million Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 26.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,071 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $9,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Beacon Financial Group grew its position in CME Group by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 1,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its position in CME Group by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 78.6% in the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its position in CME Group by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Investments Management Co LLC grew its position in CME Group by 48.4% in the 1st quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC now owns 7,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Barclays set a $298.00 price objective on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $274.15.

CME Group Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of CME stock opened at $264.67 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.94 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The company has a market capitalization of $95.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $269.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $271.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.40%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.