Dearborn Partners LLC Buys New Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Dearborn Partners acquired 92,074 CME Group shares worth approximately $20.3 million during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 87.75% of the company.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.99 EPS and $1.71 billion in revenue, while revenue increased 0.8% year over year. Analysts expect $12.27 in EPS for the current fiscal year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, equal to $5.20 annually and a 1.9% yield. Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $288.56.

Dearborn Partners LLC bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 92,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $20,333,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $612,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $53,671,000. FLC Capital Advisors acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,122,000. Haverford Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $13,818,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in CME Group by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 352,922 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $96,376,000 after buying an additional 22,692 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $280.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $101.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.23. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $253.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.09. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month 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.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.96 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Company 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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