Distillate Capital Partners LLC Invests $19.47 Million in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Distillate Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 99,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,471,000. CME Group accounts for about 1.0% of Distillate Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gold Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 66.1% during the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 515.2% in the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at $2,877,504.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,877,504.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total value of $1,629,381.87. Following the sale, the director now owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at $11,932,706.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of CME stock opened at $215.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $208.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $207.38. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $223.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.72 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.55.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America downgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $212.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $209.73.

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.