Madison Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 93,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,568,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC raised its position in CME Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in CME Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY grew its stake in CME Group by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $266.94 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $95.99 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $250.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $279.81. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought 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 in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.