Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $6.54 Million Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 32.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,712 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in CME Group by 4.3% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

CME Group Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $264.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $95.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $249.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $281.01.

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

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.