Trust Co. of Vermont Grows Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in CME Group were worth $16,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 84.3% during the 2nd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $268.14.

CME Group Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $270.19 on Wednesday. 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 has a market cap of $97.37 billion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.94 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $270.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $271.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. As a group, research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.40%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,056,962. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company 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.