ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,450,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 121,707 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,497,000 after acquiring an additional 21,918 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $302.24.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $221.00 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $80.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.86, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.21. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.73 and a 1-year 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $273.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $285.85.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.