Militia Capital Partners LP Makes New $210,000 Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Militia Capital Partners LP bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its position in CME Group by 2.3% during the first quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.0% in the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.0% in the first quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.8% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,546,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.6% in the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 256 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 258,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,849,763.88. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $260.60.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $262.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $94.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.38 and a fifty-two week high of $290.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $273.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $270.21.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.40%.

CME Group 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.