Baer Investment Advisory LLC Takes $1.26 Million Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Baer Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 4,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,261,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in CME Group by 103.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after buying an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after buying an additional 7,397 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $236.60 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $267.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.28. The firm has a market cap of $85.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CME. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. UBS Group restated an “overweight” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen raised CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $300.94.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. 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.