Blair William & Co. IL Buys 3,227 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 146,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,227 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in CME Group were worth $39,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Caldwell Trust Co raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 116.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in CME Group in the third quarter worth $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC purchased a new position in CME Group in the third quarter worth $30,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. 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. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.71.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,737,468.20. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the transaction, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $317.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $114.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $248.53 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $292.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $277.66.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.80%.

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.