Smith Salley Wealth Management Acquires 211 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Smith Salley Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,269,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. City Holding Co. increased its stake in CME Group by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 6,306 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares in the last quarter. XY Planning Network Inc. bought a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,060,000. TBH Global Asset Management LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC now owns 3,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 53.1% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,744,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Oppenheimer raised 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, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $268.14.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $270.28 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.94 and a 1-year 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. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $270.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $271.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.40 billion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.