W1M Asset Management Ltd Takes $347.51 Million Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

W1M Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,573,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $347,510,000. CME Group comprises about 3.2% of W1M Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth $18,306,000. Emerald Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at $995,000. Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter valued at about $3,164,000. TRB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth about $483,000. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth about $12,160,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Trading Up 1.5%

CME opened at $274.98 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $251.17 and its 200-day moving average is $279.65. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $98.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. 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 44.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.56.

CME Group 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.