HighTower Advisors LLC Cuts Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 19.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 300,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 74,167 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $66,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $3,147,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its position 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 in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY increased its position in shares of CME Group by 2.3% during the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 3.8% during the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director William Shepard purchased 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $281.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $101.15 billion, a PE ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $260.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.05.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.75.

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.