Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Acquires 97,697 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 95.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 200,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 97,697 shares during the quarter. CME Group accounts for about 1.4% of Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd. owned about 0.06% of CME Group worth $44,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its position in CME Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY increased its holdings in CME Group by 2.3% during the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in CME Group by 3.8% in the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.56.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $286.45 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $255.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.00 billion, a PE ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.24.

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, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.