Phoenix Wealth Advisors Sells 1,013 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Phoenix Wealth Advisors lessened its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 8.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,013 shares during the quarter. CME Group accounts for approximately 1.2% of Phoenix Wealth Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Phoenix Wealth Advisors’ holdings in CME Group were worth $2,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Donoghue Forlines LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 7.3% during the second quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 15,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,268,000 after buying an additional 1,048 shares in the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services grew its position in CME Group by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 25,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,084,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its holdings in CME Group by 36.0% in the 2nd quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 46,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,883,000 after purchasing an additional 12,376 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC raised its position in CME Group by 5.2% in the second quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $906,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,790,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $769,143,000 after purchasing an additional 44,377 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 262 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total value of $102,704.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,791,486. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CME. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $266.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $287.06.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $283.54 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $266.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $272.73. The firm has a market cap of $102.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $222.56 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.68 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.45%.

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.