Childress Capital Advisors LLC Takes $226,000 Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Childress Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,190,661,000 after buying an additional 400,737 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 363,130 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in 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 buying an additional 648,591 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 260,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 290,147 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CME. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays set a $298.00 target price on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $268.71.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $265.84 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.94 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.80 billion, a PE ratio of 25.73, a P/E/G ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $270.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $271.09.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total value of $102,704.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Company 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.