CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Position Raised by Radnor Capital Management LLC

Radnor Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 32.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, United Community Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays increased their target price on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $258.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Larry G. Gerdes sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.10, for a total transaction of $528,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,651 shares in the company, valued at $10,207,729.10. This trade represents a 4.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total value of $141,210.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,916.56. This trade represents a 12.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,900 shares of company stock worth $6,147,935 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $274.24 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $271.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $253.09. The firm has a market cap of $98.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.30%.

About CME Group

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.