Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Makes New $498,000 Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 2,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $498,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 103.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $285.80 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $253.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.13. The company has a market capitalization of $102.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CME. TD Cowen reduced 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 note on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays lowered their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.