Galaxy Digital Capital Management GP LLC Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Galaxy Digital Capital Management GP LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 16,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,637,000. CME Group comprises 1.8% of Galaxy Digital Capital Management GP LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth about $57,000. Caledonia Private Investments Pty Ltd purchased a new position in CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,139,000. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,169,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $503,111,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,671,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Nine research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

CME Group Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of CME opened at $277.32 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $251.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $279.35. The firm has a market cap of $99.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The business’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 earnings per share. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. 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 presently 44.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group 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.