Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $683,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 1,325.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after buying an additional 21,918 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in CME Group by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,344,000 after buying an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.81.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $269.80 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $250.20 and a 200-day moving average of $280.22. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $97.01 billion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.