Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Has $8.18 Million Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 98.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,028 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $8,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 323.3% during the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in CME Group by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 7,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,877,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 68.6% during the first quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 14.2% in the first quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 97,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,792,000 after purchasing an additional 12,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.1% in the first quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 26,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,958,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the acquisition, the director owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. This trade represents a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $275.53 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $224.62 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The firm has a market cap of $99.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.28. The business’s fifty day moving average is $272.52 and its 200-day moving average is $271.72.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Citigroup upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Argus reduced their price target on CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $290.82.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.