176,488 Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME Purchased by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 176,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $38,974,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID raised its stake in CME Group by 191.9% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Nine investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $288.56.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.5%

CME stock opened at $274.98 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $98.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $251.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.65. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

CME Group 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.