Hennessy Advisors Inc. Invests $464,000 in CME Group Inc. $CME

Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $464,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 0.3% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY boosted its stake in CME Group by 2.3% during the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in CME Group by 3.8% in the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Bank of America boosted their price target on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $285.80 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $253.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $278.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current 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.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.11%.

CME Group 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.