Burney Co. Increases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Burney Co. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 357.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,894 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,190,661,000 after purchasing an additional 400,737 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,091,401,000 after purchasing an additional 363,130 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.0% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,920,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $804,823,000 after purchasing an additional 84,005 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 29.9% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,818,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $747,744,000 after purchasing an additional 648,591 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 10.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $735,539,000 after purchasing an additional 260,065 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $285.19.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $264.16 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $265.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $272.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.60, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.41. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.94 and a 12 month 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.45%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $265.19 per share, with a total value 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total transaction of $102,704.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,962. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Profile

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.