Intermede Investment Partners Ltd Acquires Shares of 284,959 CME Group Inc. $CME

Intermede Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 284,959 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $77,817,000. CME Group makes up 3.2% of Intermede Investment Partners Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its position in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its position in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Anfield Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 197.4% during the fourth quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $291.23 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $257.17 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $296.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.85, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

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.