Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 18,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,434,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 64.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $302.24.

CME Group Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $221.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $273.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $285.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $220.73 and a 12-month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.37%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.