QRG Capital Management Inc. Grows Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in CME Group Inc. by 132.6% in the second quarter, owning a total of 85,208 shares valued at approximately $23.5 million.
• CME Group reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.96 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $2.91, with a quarterly revenue increase of 10.4% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share, equating to an annual yield of 1.9%, with a payout ratio currently sitting at 48.40%.

QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 132.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 48,573 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $23,485,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $377,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 256.9% in the 1st quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 2,636 shares during the period. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $367,000. Fulcrum Equity Management purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,645 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,510 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $264.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 0.41. The business's 50 day moving average is $269.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $271.09. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.94 and a 1-year high of $290.79. 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 (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.CME Group's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CME. UBS Group lowered 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, September 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $274.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the sale, the insider owned 9,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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.

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