WealthShield Partners LLC Takes $2.72 Million Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

WealthShield Partners LLC bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,720,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,749,965,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $867,313,000. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $769,376,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $629,771,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $288.56.

CME Group Trading Up 1.5%

CME opened at $274.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $98.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $251.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.65.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. 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.