Alphabet Inc. Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Alphabet acquired 3.48 million CME Group shares worth approximately $769.4 million during the second quarter, making CME about 0.8% of Alphabet’s portfolio and its fourth-largest holding.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.99 in EPS on $1.71 billion in revenue. The company also declared a $1.30 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a $5.20 annualized payout and a 1.9% yield.
• Institutional investors own 87.75% of CME’s stock, while analyst sentiment remains mixed: the consensus rating is “Hold”, with an average price target of $291.81.

Alphabet Inc. bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,484,020 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $769,376,000. CME Group accounts for about 0.8% of Alphabet Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Alphabet Inc. owned about 0.97% of CME Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in CME Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,408,747,000 after acquiring an additional 56,725 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in CME Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,344,776,000 after purchasing an additional 134,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,319,763 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,179,858,000 after purchasing an additional 222,890 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $267.88 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $250.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.07. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $96.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released 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. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.96 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $291.81.

CME Group Company 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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