AlphaQuest LLC Has $995,000 Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 230.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,519 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 206.9% in the second quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 122.2% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 84.3% in the second quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 612.5% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $284.53.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $269.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 6.19 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $266.47 and its 200 day moving average is $271.78. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.94 and a 12 month high of $290.79.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the acquisition, the director owned 258,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.