Madison Asset Management LLC Invests $20.57 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 93,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,568,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new position in CME Group during the second quarter worth $612,000. FLC Capital Advisors bought a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $2,122,000. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in CME Group by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 352,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,376,000 after purchasing an additional 22,692 shares during the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $3,368,000. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 999,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $272,952,000 after purchasing an additional 10,602 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of CME stock opened at $266.94 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The stock has a market cap of $95.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $250.89 and a 200-day moving average of $279.81.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. 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 is 44.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group 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.