Trajan Wealth LLC Buys New Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Trajan Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 33,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,314,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 191.9% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $279.17 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $251.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $279.47. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16. 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 has a market cap of $100.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. CME Group’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler cut their price target on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded 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 set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

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.