Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Invests $17.30 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 78,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,295,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Group LTD acquired a new position in CME Group in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $277.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $99.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $279.35.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Bank of America upped their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $288.56.

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.