Belpointe Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 88.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,195 shares during the quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,801,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 175,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,544,000 after buying an additional 9,703 shares during the period. Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 122,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,527,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 5,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,414,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 9,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,466,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 256 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 258,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CME. UBS Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Barclays set a $298.00 price objective on CME Group and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. 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. Citigroup lifted their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $260.60.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $259.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $93.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $274.10 and a 200-day moving average of $270.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.38 and a 52 week high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

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.