15,371 Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME Acquired by Ieq Capital LLC

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,394,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, 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 valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $279.17 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $251.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.47. The firm has a market cap of $100.38 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

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.