Sarasin & Partners LLP Boosts Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 41.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,314,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 383,581 shares during the period. CME Group comprises about 3.4% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in CME Group were worth $290,230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Dedication LLC raised its position in CME Group by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 0.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in CME Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CME. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.81.

CME Group Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ CME opened at $264.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $249.44 and its 200-day moving average is $280.90.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders 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 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

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

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.