Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Invests $1.90 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 8,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,902,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 191.9% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 0.7%

CME opened at $267.88 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $96.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $250.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $280.07.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.11%.

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.