Cerity Partners LLC Increases Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 127,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,167 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $34,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 2,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $707,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 2.3% in the 1st 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. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its position in CME Group by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 30,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,077,000 after acquiring an additional 8,804 shares during the period. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new stake in CME Group during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.06.

CME Group Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $266.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $274.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.96. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $225.46 and a 52-week high of $290.79. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total transaction of $263,530.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Profile

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.