SEB Asset Management AB Invests $24.38 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 82,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,383,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after buying an additional 588,509 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,408,747,000 after buying an additional 56,725 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,344,776,000 after acquiring an additional 134,242 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,319,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,179,858,000 after acquiring an additional 222,890 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $245.05 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $88.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $258.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $282.15.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. TD Cowen cut 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.12.

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.