MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH Takes $7.50 Million Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 33,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,501,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Blue Edge Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $344,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $264,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth approximately $951,000. Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth approximately $60,314,000. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $888,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $280.94 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.02 billion, a PE ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $253.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $279.09. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.96 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Nine 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, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $288.56.

About CME Group

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.