CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Acquired by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 25,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 122.2% in the 1st 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 period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 50.0% in the 4th 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. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 612.5% during the 1st 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 stake in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Phyllis M. Lockett sold 1,060 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.88, for a total value of $294,552.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $863,651.04. This represents a 25.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total transaction of $817,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,471,824. The trade was a 35.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,400 shares of company stock valued at $3,152,410 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on CME Group from $299.00 to $298.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $261.93.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $279.55 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.25 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $276.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $262.72. 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 market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.06, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.44.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

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.