CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Bought by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 148.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,848 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 7,397 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CME announced new products aimed at expanding trading activity, including Treasury LINK for U.S. Treasury spread trading and a new agriculture index that offers a unified benchmark for the global farm economy. CME Group to launch Treasury LINK for enhanced US Treasury spread trading CME Group’s New Agriculture Index Delivers Unified Price Benchmark for the Global Farm Economy
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley kept an overweight rating but lowered its price target on CME to $324 from $353, while Barclays cut its target to $270 and moved to equal weight, signaling reduced near-term expectations but not a fundamentally bearish view. Morgan Stanley cuts CME price target Barclays cuts CME price target
• Negative Sentiment: The CFTC blocked CME’s plan to fast-track 24/7 crude oil futures trading, a setback that could limit a potentially important new revenue stream and raises regulatory risk around product innovation. CFTC to block CME’s plan for 24/7 crude oil futures trading CFTC Blocks for Now CME’s Plan to Offer 24/7 Oil Futures
• Negative Sentiment: Reports also pointed to weaker trading volumes and rising competition weighing on CME Group, which could pressure transaction-based revenue growth if activity remains soft. Competition And Weaker Trading Volumes Are Weighing On CME Group (CME) Stock

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $320.00 target price on 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $293.59.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired 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 $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $240.27 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $262.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $283.26.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.24 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued 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 dividend yield of 2.2%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

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.