Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $951,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID boosted its position in CME Group by 191.9% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $280.98 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $252.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $279.24. The company has a market capitalization of $101.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current 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 paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

About CME Group

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.