UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Invests $1.82 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,825,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its position in CME Group by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $267.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $96.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The business’s 50 day moving average is $250.51 and its 200-day moving average is $280.07.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

CME Group Company 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.