Western Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 11,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,598,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID raised its stake in CME Group by 191.9% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Group LTD purchased a new stake in CME Group in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.7%

CME stock opened at $277.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.35. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.72 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.23.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen cut their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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.