EFG International AG Purchases Shares of 152,844 CME Group Inc. $CME

EFG International AG acquired a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 152,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $33,768,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID raised its stake in CME Group by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CME. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

CME Group Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $277.32 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $279.35. The company has a market cap of $99.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.11%.

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.