CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Acquired by Western Wealth Management LLC

Western Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1,432.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,673 shares during the quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.81.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2%

CME Group stock opened at $267.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $250.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.05. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $96.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, 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 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.96 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.11%.

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.