CME Group Inc. $CME Position Raised by World Equity Group Inc.

World Equity Group Inc. boosted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 446.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,063 shares during the quarter. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spartan Wealth Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at $1,673,000. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% during the first quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,018,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 2.1% during the first quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in CME Group by 43.0% in the first quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co raised its position in CME Group by 4.5% in the first quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 2,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $857,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $353.00 to $324.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.12.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $245.05 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $258.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $282.12. 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 has a market cap of $88.80 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.18 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group 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.