CacheTech Inc. Invests $571,000 in CME Group Inc. $CME

CacheTech Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 2,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $571,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,571,447,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 370.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $704,068,000 after buying an additional 2,089,935 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 185.5% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,244,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $330,182,000 after buying an additional 808,740 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $164,648,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after acquiring an additional 532,549 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total transaction of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,147 shares of company stock valued at $562,079 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $273.55 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $224.62 and a 12 month high of $290.79. The company has a market capitalization of $98.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $271.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.CME Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on CME. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CME Group from $312.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $290.00.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.