CME Group Inc. $CME Holdings Decreased by Wakefield Asset Management LLLP

Wakefield Asset Management LLLP trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 238 shares during the quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 612.5% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in CME Group during the 1st quarter worth $61,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in CME Group during the 1st quarter worth $211,000. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 29.8% during the 1st quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in CME Group by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 30,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,196,000 after buying an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $266.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $285.19.

CME Group Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $265.49 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.94 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $95.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.73, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a fifty day moving average of $265.83 and a 200-day moving average of $272.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total transaction of $102,704.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,540,742.21. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Company Profile

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.