Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 52,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,556,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 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 acquisition, the director 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. 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 report on Wednesday, July 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.81.

CME Group Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ CME opened at $271.54 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $250.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.97. The stock has a market cap of $97.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (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%.CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be 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 is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.