CME Group Inc. $CME Stake Raised by Forum Financial Management LP

Forum Financial Management LP grew its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 8.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 593 shares during the quarter. Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 256.9% during the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $971,000 after acquiring an additional 2,636 shares during the period. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group in the first quarter worth approximately $367,000. Fulcrum Equity Management purchased a new position in CME Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $258,000. AIA Group Ltd grew its position in CME Group by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Inv LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at $2,712,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total transaction of $102,704.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,056,962. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the transaction, the director owned 258,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $267.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $96.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $266.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.45. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.94 and a 52 week high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays lowered their target price on CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $283.71.

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.