CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Acquired by Groupama Asset Managment

Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 16.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 268,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 37,526 shares during the period. CME Group comprises about 1.1% of Groupama Asset Managment’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Groupama Asset Managment owned approximately 0.07% of CME Group worth $79,411,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FLC Capital Advisors bought a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,122,000. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 138.8% during the fourth quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,953,000 after buying an additional 4,152 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 352,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,376,000 after buying an additional 22,692 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 132.7% during the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 21,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,797,000 after buying an additional 12,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,368,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased 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 directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.81.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $267.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $250.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.05. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $96.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

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.