American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 56,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,809 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $14,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 7,676.3% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,205,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $584,975,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176,685 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 32,941.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,858,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $493,144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,261 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $218,842,000. Egerton Capital UK LLP grew its stake in CME Group by 79.4% during the 1st quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP now owns 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $459,003,000 after purchasing an additional 765,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in CME Group by 29.9% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,818,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $747,744,000 after purchasing an additional 648,591 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 256 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total value of $132,675.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,300,215. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $261.93.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $269.52 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09, a PEG ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.44. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $206.44 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $275.82 and a 200 day moving average of $268.67.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.