Clearstead Trust LLC Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 3,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $729,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut their price target on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings cut CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.81.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $269.80 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $250.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $280.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.11%.

CME Group Company Profile

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.