Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 549,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $121,443,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 2,075.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during 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 purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $280.98 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $252.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $279.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $101.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.23.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on CME. UBS Group dropped their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.