Westpac Banking Corp Makes New $3.16 Million Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Westpac Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 14,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,164,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its holdings in CME Group by 191.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Group LTD bought a new position in CME Group during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on 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 target price on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Nine equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $274.98 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $251.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $279.65. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The stock has a market cap of $98.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 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 earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS 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 paid 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 payout ratio is currently 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.