Clear Trail Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 36,672 CME Group Inc. $CME

Clear Trail Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 36,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,014,000. CME Group accounts for approximately 2.3% of Clear Trail Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Amundi lifted its holdings in CME Group by 24.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $548,150,000 after buying an additional 385,225 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,106,000 after acquiring an additional 5,773 shares during the period. Alley Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 86.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,896,000 after acquiring an additional 13,512 shares during the period. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 85.2% in the 3rd quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 3,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 310.2% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Down 0.2%

CME stock opened at $306.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $300.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $280.88.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CME. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.06.

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.