CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Acquired by Braun Stacey Associates Inc.

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 111,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,560 shares during the quarter. CME Group comprises about 1.1% of Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $33,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Asset Dedication LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $221.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $273.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $285.74. The stock has a market cap of $80.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.21. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $220.73 and a 12-month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.37%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CME. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group restated an “overweight” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price target on CME Group in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.24.

CME Group Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.