Nwam LLC Reduces Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Nwam LLC lowered its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 63.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,949 shares during the quarter. Nwam LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID raised 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 in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $292.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.75.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William Shepard acquired 325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $281.29 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 firm has a market cap of $101.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $258.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $278.38.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. 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.