86,050 Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME Acquired by Varenne Capital Partners

Varenne Capital Partners acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 86,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $23,717,000. CME Group makes up 4.1% of Varenne Capital Partners’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,695,313,000 after buying an additional 532,549 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,524,271,000 after acquiring an additional 319,899 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,091,401,000 after acquiring an additional 363,130 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in CME Group by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,920,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $804,823,000 after acquiring an additional 84,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in CME Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,790,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $769,143,000 after acquiring an additional 44,377 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 14,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,791,486 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen raised their price target on CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $287.65.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0%

CME opened at $275.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $224.62 and a 12 month high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50-day moving average of $268.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.84.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.68 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.45%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.