CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Acquired by Principle Wealth Partners LLC

Principle Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 16.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,586 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 7,676.3% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,205,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $584,975,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176,685 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 370.5% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $704,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089,935 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the first quarter worth about $218,842,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 185.5% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,244,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $330,182,000 after acquiring an additional 808,740 shares during the period. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 79.4% during the first quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP now owns 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $459,003,000 after acquiring an additional 765,773 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $268.90 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.94 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The company has a market capitalization of $96.91 billion, a PE ratio of 26.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $266.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $271.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on CME shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $284.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the company’s 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 represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 262 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.