Empowered Funds LLC Takes $7.29 Million Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 32,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,286,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID boosted its holdings in CME Group by 191.9% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Group LTD acquired a new position in CME Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $285.80 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $253.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $278.93. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last issued 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.96 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.