AE Wealth Management LLC Buys 170 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 18.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $291,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 86,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,190,000 after purchasing an additional 19,533 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 52,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,176,000 after buying an additional 3,587 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 10,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,430,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in CME Group by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 43,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CME. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $261.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total transaction of $1,304,836.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,339,164.96. The trade was a 35.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.50, for a total transaction of $108,225.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 6,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,861,470. This represents a 5.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,881,130 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $277.74 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.25 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $100.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.89, a PEG ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $276.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $263.21.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. Equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.