GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd Acquires New Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME

GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 71,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,847,000. CME Group makes up approximately 2.2% of GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 121,707 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 1,325.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,497,000 after buying an additional 21,918 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in CME Group by 2.6% during the second 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. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

CME Group Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of CME stock opened at $274.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.65. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $98.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the firm’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 acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.