Focus Partners Wealth Acquires 19,007 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 165,834 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,007 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in CME Group were worth $38,583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 108.7% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 6,453 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,144,000. Unified Investment Management bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $503,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,730,000 after buying an additional 52,862 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Raymond James upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $256.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total value of $1,304,836.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,339,164.96. This represents a 35.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,726 shares of company stock valued at $8,975,813. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $284.35 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $264.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $245.67. The company has a market cap of $102.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $286.48.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.30%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.