Captrust Financial Advisors Grows Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 558,732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,803 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in CME Group were worth $152,579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CME. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 345.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,965,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Dover Advisors LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 95.5% during the third quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 5,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 2,734 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $2,122,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 32.5% during the third quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 50,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,773,000 after purchasing an additional 12,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ raised its stake in CME Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 114,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of CME opened at $261.60 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $244.56 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $94.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $283.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.95.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CME. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.