Western Pacific Wealth Management LP Trims Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Western Pacific Wealth Management LP lessened its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 34.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 73 shares during the quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP’s holdings in CME Group were worth $39,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,207,000 after buying an additional 1,358 shares during the period. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,507,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $133,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its stake in CME Group by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 134,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,203,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in CME Group by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $992,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on CME. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $260.60.

CME Group Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $260.59 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.38 and a fifty-two week high of $290.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $270.52.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 256 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total transaction of $102,704.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,056,962. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.