CCLA Investment Management Increases Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

CCLA Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 559,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 873 shares during the quarter. CME Group accounts for approximately 0.1% of CCLA Investment Management’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. CCLA Investment Management owned about 0.16% of CME Group worth $154,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 256.9% during the 1st quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $971,000 after buying an additional 2,636 shares during the period. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $367,000. Fulcrum Equity Management acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $258,000. AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in CME Group by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Inv LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,712,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 262 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,540,742.21. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $266.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $284.53.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $269.54 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $97.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $266.47 and a 200-day moving average of $271.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.94 and a 52 week high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The business’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.45%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.