American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 3,809 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 7.3%, owning a total of 56,241 shares worth approximately $14.92 million after acquiring an additional 3,809 shares.
• Other major investors significantly increased their positions in CME Group, with GQG Partners growing its stake by an impressive 7,676.3% and GAMMA Investing expanding by 32,941.0% during the same quarter.
• CME Group has reported a quarterly earnings per share of $2.96, surpassing analysts' expectations and reflecting a year-over-year revenue growth of 10.4%.

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 56,241 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,809 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $14,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,190,661,000 after acquiring an additional 400,737 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,943,454 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $915,788,000 after purchasing an additional 403,920 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,135,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $728,260,000 after acquiring an additional 621,713 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in CME Group by 29.9% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,818,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $747,744,000 after purchasing an additional 648,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,523,694 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $586,078,000 after acquiring an additional 598,027 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 256 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the purchase, the director owned 258,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $69,849,763.88. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays set a $298.00 price target on shares of CME Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $261.93.

CME Group Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of CME stock traded down $0.00 on Friday, reaching $266.77. 621,605 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,308,697. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $275.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $269.05. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $207.75 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $96.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 0.44.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The firm's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.40%.

CME Group Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.