Saudi Central Bank Raises Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Saudi Central Bank boosted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 90.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,086 shares during the quarter. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,608,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first 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 period. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 191.9% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $281.29 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $258.76 and its 200 day moving average is $278.20. 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 data 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. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.96 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company 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 $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CME. Wall Street Zen raised CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 29th. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Barclays decreased their target price on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.75.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director William Shepard bought 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About CME Group

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.