CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Purchased by GoalVest Advisory LLC

GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 67.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Solstein Capital LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 35.0% during the 2nd quarter. Solstein Capital LLC now owns 1,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 584,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $161,187,000 after acquiring an additional 14,609 shares in the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $105,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 46.7% in the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 60,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,763,000 after acquiring an additional 8,924 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $269.54 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $266.47 and its 200-day moving average is $271.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.14 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.41. 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.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total value of $102,704.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on CME Group from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $284.53.

CME Group Company 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.