GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Reduces Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA lowered its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 48.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,880 shares during the quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in CME Group were worth $799,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 122.2% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 612.5% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on CME Group from $299.00 to $298.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $261.93.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $279.55 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $276.44 and its 200-day moving average is $262.48. The company has a market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.06, a PEG ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 0.44. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $193.25 and a 12 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.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total transaction of $132,675.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,300,215. This represents a 9.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 256 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 258,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,849,763.88. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,400 shares of company stock worth $3,152,410. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Company 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.