First National Bank of Omaha Takes $2.81 Million Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

First National Bank of Omaha purchased a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 12,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,811,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after purchasing an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $6,749,965,000. State Street Corp grew 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $1,523,241,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in CME Group by 2.8% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 134,242 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ CME opened at $271.54 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $250.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The stock has a market cap of $97.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.03, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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%.CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid 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 payout ratio is 44.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.81.

About CME Group

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.