AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• AssuredPartners Investment Advisors initiated a CME Group position by purchasing 10,843 shares valued at approximately $2.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 87.75% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with nine Buy, six Hold and three Sell ratings; the consensus rating is Hold with a $288.56 price target.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.99 in earnings per share and $1.71 billion in revenue, while declaring a $1.30 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 1.9% yield.

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 10,843 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,394,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Group LTD acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays lowered their price target on 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. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $288.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $266.94 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $250.89 and a 200-day moving average of $279.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $95.99 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. 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 currently 44.11%.

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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