CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Purchased by IFM Investors Pty Ltd

IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 73,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,304 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $21,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in CME Group by 103.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 1,325.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after acquiring an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in CME Group by 2.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Key CME Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director William Shepard bought 325 shares of CME at $230.57, a small insider purchase that can signal confidence in the stock’s longer-term outlook. Insider Buying: CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Director Purchases 325 Shares
• Positive Sentiment: A recent article highlighted CME as one of several oversold stocks, which may suggest the pullback has pushed the shares into technically attractive territory for some investors. CME Group (CME): 11 Oversold Tech Stocks to Buy Now
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts expect CME’s next quarterly earnings report to show only low single-digit profit growth, implying steady but not especially strong near-term fundamentals. What to Expect From CME Group’s Next Quarterly Earnings Report
• Neutral Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha note said CME’s recent pullback does not change its hold-style view, suggesting some analysts see the decline as valuation-driven rather than a major change in business fundamentals. CME Group’s Pullback Does Not Change The Rating
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman Sachs lowered its price target on CME and maintained a sell rating, reinforcing a cautious outlook from at least one major Wall Street firm. Goldman Sachs adjusts price target on CME Group
• Negative Sentiment: A market recap said CME was among the financial sector’s losers in the quarter, adding to the tone of recent weakness in the shares. Financial sector climbs in Q2 as Robinhood leads gainers, CME heads losers

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $300.94.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired 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 directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $220.83 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $270.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $285.17. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $80.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

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.