R Squared Ltd Takes $645,000 Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $645,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Guardian Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Guardian Asset Advisors LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its position in CME Group by 9.1% during the second quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 148,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,008,000 after acquiring an additional 12,350 shares during the last quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 21.5% during the second quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 51,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,285,000 after acquiring an additional 8,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 24,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,697,000 after purchasing an additional 2,147 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 258,459 shares in the company, valued at $68,540,742.21. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $266.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday. Citigroup raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Eight 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $284.53.

CME Group Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ CME opened at $268.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.91 billion, a PE ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50-day moving average is $266.56 and its 200 day moving average is $271.57. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

About CME Group

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.