Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. Acquires 121 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 206.9% in the 2nd quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 84.3% in the 2nd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 122.2% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 59.2% in the 2nd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $284.53.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2%

CME Group stock opened at $269.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.94 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $266.47 and its 200 day moving average is $271.78. The company has a market capitalization of $97.14 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 6.19 and a beta of 0.41.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Profile

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.