Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 532,549 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 532,549 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.10% of CME Group worth $9,695,313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CME. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,924,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 7.4% in the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 5,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,350,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 4.0% in the first quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 27,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,389,000 after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Alliance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 1,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $279.28 on Wednesday. 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 52-week low of $224.62 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $100.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.06, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $268.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $272.83.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $287.65.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 14,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,791,486 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.