CME Group Inc. $CME Stock Holdings Increased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2,225.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 245,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 235,067 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $72,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 345.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,965,000 after acquiring an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $2,122,000. First Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,325,000. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 41.6% during the third quarter. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd now owns 191,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,731,000 after purchasing an additional 56,259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 140,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,931 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $225.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $81.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.21. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $224.40 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business’s 50-day moving average is $274.65 and its 200-day moving average is $286.20.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $302.24.

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.