Merit Financial Group LLC Sells 75 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Merit Financial Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 966.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 1,233.3% in the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 7,140 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.35, for a total transaction of $1,501,899.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,153,999.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.80.

CME Group Stock Up 0.8 %

CME Group stock opened at $213.61 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.73 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The company has a market cap of $76.90 billion, a PE ratio of 24.30, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $213.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.42.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

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.