MSH Capital Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 10,887 CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• MSH Capital Advisors initiated a CME Group position by purchasing 10,887 shares worth approximately $2.4 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 87.75% of the company.
• CME Group reported quarterly EPS of $2.99, exceeding analyst expectations of $2.91, while revenue reached $1.71 billion, up 0.8% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, representing an annualized payout of $5.20 and a 1.9% yield. Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $288.56.

MSH Capital Advisors LLC purchased 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 Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 10,887 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,404,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aurora Investment Counsel bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $320,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,391,000. Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $20,568,000. Csenge Advisory Group acquired a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $209,000. Finally, AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,394,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $266.94 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $95.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $250.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.81. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.96 earnings per share. CME Group's revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered CME Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $288.56.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the company'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 acquisition, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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