B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Buys New Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG bought 35,192 CME Group shares during the second quarter, valued at approximately $7.8 million. Institutional investors collectively own 87.75% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: nine analysts rate CME a Buy, six Hold, and three Sell, producing a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $288.56.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $2.99 in EPS and $1.71 billion in revenue. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, equivalent to a 1.9% yield.

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 35,192 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,771,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after buying an additional 588,509 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $6,749,965,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,408,747,000 after acquiring an additional 56,725 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,344,776,000 after purchasing an additional 134,242 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays decreased their target price on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. UBS Group cut their price target 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $288.56.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $270.87 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average is $251.06 and its 200 day moving average is $279.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $97.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CME? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source