CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lessened its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 38.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,736 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. GQG Partners LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 2,176,685 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 370.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth about $218,842,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 185.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 79.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CME. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $284.53.

CME Group Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $266.33 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $95.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.41. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $213.94 and a fifty-two week high of $290.79. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $266.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $272.08.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.CME Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,540,742.21. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,470,463.64. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.