Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Buys 4,169 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 78.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,169 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after buying an additional 121,707 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after acquiring an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in CME Group by 2.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of CME opened at $221.00 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.73 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $80.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $285.74.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 price objective on CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $302.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.