California State Teachers Retirement System Acquires 130,647,934 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• California State Teachers Retirement System dramatically increased its CME Group position by purchasing 130.6 million additional shares in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 131.2 million shares valued at approximately $29.0 billion, or 36.5% of the company.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.99 in EPS versus the $2.91 consensus estimate and $1.71 billion in revenue, up 0.8% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: nine analysts rate CME a Buy, six a Hold and three a Sell, resulting in a consensus Hold rating and an average price target of $289.75. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, equivalent to a 1.8% yield.

California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 21,954.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 131,243,023 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 130,647,934 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 36.50% of CME Group worth $28,982,397,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Bayban bought a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised CME Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Nine research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $289.75.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $281.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $260.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $278.05. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. 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 company has a market capitalization of $101.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. CME Group's revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director William Shepard acquired 325 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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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