ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Invests $3.45 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in CME Group during the first quarter, purchasing 11,525 shares worth about $3.45 million.
• Insiders sold shares recently, including CEO Terrence A. Duffy and insider Hilda Harris Piell, while institutional investors still own 87.75% of the stock.
• CME Group beat quarterly expectations with $3.36 EPS on $1.88 billion in revenue, and it also paid a $1.30 quarterly dividend yielding about 2.4%.

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 11,525 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,450,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 64.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 100 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 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 transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $221.00 on Monday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $273.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $285.85. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $220.73 and a 12 month 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 company has a market capitalization of $80.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.21.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. CME Group's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CME. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price objective on CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered CME Group from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an "overweight" 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 given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $302.24.

About CME Group

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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