Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Purchases New Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd opened a new position in CME Group during the first quarter, buying 10,551 shares worth about $3.1 million.
• CME Group reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $3.36 per share and revenue of $1.88 billion, both ahead of analyst expectations. Revenue rose 14.5% year over year.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 2.1%, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy on average.

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 10,551 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,116,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its position in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen raised CME Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $298.00.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock traded up $7.82 on Tuesday, reaching $242.58. The company had a trading volume of 775,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,745,922. The business's 50-day moving average is $267.17 and its 200 day moving average is $284.36. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $87.90 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. CME Group's payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the business'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 transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Company 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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