Friedenthal Financial Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $886,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,190,661,000 after buying an additional 400,737 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 363,130 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 29.9% in 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 10.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $735,539,000 after purchasing an additional 260,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group cut their price objective 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 upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $303.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $276.67.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $263.60 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $213.94 and a one year high of $290.79. The company has a market cap of $95.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.52, a P/E/G ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $269.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares in the company, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by 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.