Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 6,281 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 83.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,281 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,444,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its position in CME Group by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,134,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.4% during the first quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 43,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.8% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,574,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 7.8% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,294,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $258.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director Larry G. Gerdes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.10, for a total transaction of $528,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 38,651 shares in the company, valued at $10,207,729.10. The trade was a 4.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total value of $817,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,471,824. This trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,900 shares of company stock worth $6,147,935. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.2%

CME opened at $274.24 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $98.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $271.69 and its 200 day moving average is $253.27. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.30%.

CME Group 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.