CME Group Inc. $CME is Martin Capital Partners LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Martin Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 239.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 22,267 shares during the period. CME Group accounts for about 3.4% of Martin Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Martin Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $8,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,190,661,000 after acquiring an additional 400,737 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 9.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,091,401,000 after buying an additional 363,130 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 29.9% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,818,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $747,744,000 after purchasing an additional 648,591 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $735,539,000 after buying an additional 260,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 11.9% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,727,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $723,660,000 after purchasing an additional 290,147 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CME. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays set a $298.00 price target on shares of CME Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $260.60.

CME Group Stock Down 0.0%

CME opened at $262.30 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $273.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $270.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $94.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.38 and a twelve month high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 256 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 258,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,849,763.88. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.