Wealth Management Associates Inc. Acquires New Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Wealth Management Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. increased its position in CME Group by 206.9% during the second quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in CME Group by 59.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was 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 directly owned 7,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the purchase, the director owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,540,742.21. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on CME shares. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Barclays reduced their price target on CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen upped their price target on CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $266.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $284.53.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $266.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $95.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.41. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $266.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $272.08. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.94 and a twelve month high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.45%.

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.