Gotham Asset Management LLC Purchases 4,228 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Gotham Asset Management LLC has increased its stake in CME Group Inc. by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, now holding 90,205 shares valued at approximately $23.93 million.
• A number of analysts have adjusted their price targets for CME Group, with Barclays setting a target of $298.00, while Citigroup has increased its target from $265.00 to $275.00.
• The firm recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share, representing a yield of 1.9%, with the dividend payout ratio standing at 48.40%.

Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,205 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,228 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $23,930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 86,941 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $20,190,000 after purchasing an additional 19,533 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 78.6% during the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 616 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 16,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,867,000 after purchasing an additional 4,377 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 33,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crestline Management LP purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,501,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. UBS Group cut their target price on CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Citigroup upped their target price on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Barclays set a $298.00 target price on CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $260.60.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 256 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the purchase, the director owned 258,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock traded down $1.05 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $261.53. 1,943,400 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,307,547. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.38 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $270.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.CME Group's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group's payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.