PCM Encore LLC Acquires Shares of 2,406 CME Group Inc. $CME

PCM Encore LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $531,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,611,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $671,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $276,000. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $458,000. Finally, MSH Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,404,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.56.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $270.87 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $251.06 and a 200 day moving average of $279.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $97.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The business 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 company posted $2.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

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

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.