4,581 Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME Acquired by Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd

Key Points

• Fairtree Asset Management acquired 4,581 CME Group shares worth approximately $1.012 million during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 87.75% of the company.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.99 EPS versus the $2.91 consensus and $1.71 billion in revenue. The company also declared a $1.30 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 1.9% yield.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with nine Buy, six Hold and three Sell ratings; the consensus rating is Hold with a $288.56 price target.

Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,581 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,012,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Portfolio Design Labs LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $994,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth $25,879,000. PCM Encore LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth $531,000. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth $2,611,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $671,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $270.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The company's 50 day moving average price is $251.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.68. The company has a market capitalization of $97.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm's revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Barclays lowered their price target on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of CME Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.

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