Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,385,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ CME opened at $255.36 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $253.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $92.53 billion, a PE ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

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.