10,558 Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME Bought by Global Retirement Partners LLC

Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 10,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,332,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its position in CME Group by 191.9% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on CME. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. UBS Group reduced their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $269.80 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $250.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.19. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

CME Group Company 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.