Vise Technologies Inc. Invests $2.61 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 11,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,611,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $612,000. FLC Capital Advisors bought a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,122,000. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 352,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,376,000 after acquiring an additional 22,692 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in CME Group by 132.7% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 21,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,797,000 after purchasing an additional 12,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $3,368,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the company’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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $274.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $98.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23. 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’s 50-day moving average is $251.17 and its 200-day moving average is $279.65. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.11%.

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.