Van Den Berg Management I Inc. Raises Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Van Den Berg Management I Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,591 shares during the quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its position in CME Group by 191.9% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased 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 owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $288.56.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $285.80 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $253.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $279.13. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $102.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. On average, research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. 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.