Element Capital Management LLC Makes New $6.62 Million Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Element Capital Management initiated a $6.62 million position in CME Group during the second quarter by purchasing 30,000 shares. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 87.75% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: nine analysts rate CME Group a Buy, six recommend Hold, and three rate it Sell, producing a consensus Hold rating and an average price target of $288.56.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly expectations with $2.99 in EPS and $1.71 billion in revenue, while announcing a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, equivalent to a 1.9% annualized yield.

Element Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 30,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,625,000. CME Group comprises about 0.2% of Element Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID boosted its stake in CME Group by 191.9% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Group LTD acquired a new position in CME Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 6th. 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 note on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $288.56.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $277.32 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day moving average is $251.75 and its 200-day moving average is $279.35. The stock has a market cap of $99.72 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. 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 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group's payout ratio is presently 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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