CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Sold by Archford Capital Strategies LLC

Archford Capital Strategies LLC cut its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 34.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,159 shares during the quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,070,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CME. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its position in CME Group by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.6% in the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the first quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP now owns 13,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,598,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 1,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Raymond James Financial raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on CME Group from $282.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $258.20.

CME Group Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $273.03 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $256.04. The stock has a market cap of $98.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.45. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $192.11 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 57.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 50.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total value of $817,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,471,824. This represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Larry G. Gerdes sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.10, for a total value of $528,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 38,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,207,729.10. The trade was a 4.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Profile

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.