Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Grows Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 25,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 997 shares during the quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $7,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. grew its holdings in CME Group by 206.9% in the second quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 84.3% during the second quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 122.2% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 59.2% during the second quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $281.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $303.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $283.43.

CME Group Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $271.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 0.41. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.94 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The company’s fifty day moving average is $268.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $271.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.40%.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total value of $102,704.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,056,962. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group 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.