CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Elevate Capital Advisors LLC

Elevate Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 808 shares during the quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Webster Bank N. A. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 206.9% in the second quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 122.2% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 84.3% in the second quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 612.5% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Barclays set a $298.00 target price on CME Group and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group cut their target price on CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $303.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $274.15.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 258,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was 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 approximately $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 0.3%

CME opened at $264.67 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.94 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $269.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $271.09. The firm has a market cap of $95.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.56 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given 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 was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.40%.

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.