Nykredit A S Acquires New Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Nykredit A S acquired 141,488 shares of CME Group during the second quarter, valued at approximately $31.2 million. Institutional investors collectively own 87.75% of the company, with BlackRock, State Street and Norges Bank among the largest holders.
• Analyst opinions remain mixed: nine analysts rate CME Group a Buy, six recommend Hold and three recommend Sell, resulting in a consensus Hold rating and a $289.75 target price.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly expectations with earnings of $2.99 per share and revenue of $1.71 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, representing a 1.9% yield.

Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 141,488 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $31,245,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,749,965,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in CME Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,408,747,000 after buying an additional 56,725 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in CME Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,344,776,000 after acquiring an additional 134,242 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 39.1% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,019,944 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,187,290,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,587 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on CME. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CME Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and set a $292.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $289.75.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $276.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $99.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.24. 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 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $267.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $276.01.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Elizabeth A. Cook sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.11, for a total value of $140,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 17,916 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,450.76. This represents a 2.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for a broad range of financial and commodity products. Its exchange platforms enable participants to manage risk, discover prices and gain exposure to asset classes including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, metals, agricultural commodities and digital assets.

The company's principal marketplaces include CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX. Products are offered through futures and options contracts, with electronic trading available through CME Globex as well as exchange-based and privately negotiated transactions.

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