W1M Asset Management Ltd Makes New $347.51 Million Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• W1M Asset Management bought 1.57 million CME Group shares worth approximately $347.5 million, making CME its 16th-largest holding and representing about 3.2% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 87.75% of the company.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.99 in EPS versus the $2.91 consensus and revenue of $1.71 billion. Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $288.56.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, equivalent to $5.20 annually and a 1.9% yield; the dividend is payable September 25 to shareholders of record September 9.

W1M Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,573,940 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $347,510,000. CME Group accounts for approximately 3.2% of W1M Asset Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. W1M Asset Management Ltd owned about 0.44% of CME Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,802,366,000 after buying an additional 588,509 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,749,965,000. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 valued at $4,408,747,000 after purchasing an additional 56,725 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,523,241,000. Finally, 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 worth $1,344,776,000 after purchasing an additional 134,242 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Nine equities 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 company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $288.56.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of CME stock opened at $274.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $251.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $279.65. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $98.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a PEG ratio of 3.20 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 (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. Research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.11%.

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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