D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,519 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $10,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,523,241,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 746.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807,491 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $217,656,000. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $164,648,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Stock Down 0.5%

CME stock opened at $245.05 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $88.80 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $258.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $282.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.12.

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.