TrueMark Investments LLC Buys 2,014 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

TrueMark Investments LLC lifted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,014 shares during the period. CME Group comprises about 1.4% of TrueMark Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. TrueMark Investments LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $7,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi increased its position in shares of CME Group by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $548,150,000 after purchasing an additional 385,225 shares in the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 86.0% in the third quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,896,000 after buying an additional 13,512 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 85.2% in the third quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after buying an additional 3,919 shares in the last quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 310.2% during the second quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $839,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 583.8% during the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 13,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,601,000 after buying an additional 11,378 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CME. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. TD Cowen raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on CME Group from $265.00 to $264.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $292.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total transaction of $263,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $282.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $101.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $232.32 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $274.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $271.97.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.45%.

About CME Group

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.