Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Increases Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 30.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 716,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 167,126 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $158,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC raised its position in CME Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Up 1.7%

NASDAQ CME opened at $285.80 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $253.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.13. 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 has a market cap of $102.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.96 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on CME. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.