B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Grows Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its CME Group stake by 69.4% in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 35,192 shares valued at approximately $7.77 million. Institutional investors collectively own 87.75% of the company.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.99 in EPS on $1.71 billion in revenue, while revenue increased 0.8% year over year.
• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating and a $289.75 price target; CME also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30, equivalent to a 1.8% annual yield.

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 69.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,192 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,418 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in CME Group were worth $7,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $6,749,965,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $867,313,000. Alphabet Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $769,376,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $629,771,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director William Shepard acquired 325 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company's stock, 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 this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $289.75.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $282.05 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The stock has a market cap of $101.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.24. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $257.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $278.36. 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 issued 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. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.CME Group's revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.11%.

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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