WESPAC Advisors LLC Reduces Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

WESPAC Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 397 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at $377,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 256.9% in the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 2,636 shares during the period. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at $367,000. Fulcrum Equity Management purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at $258,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its position in shares of CME Group by 17.8% in the first quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,510 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $276.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $263.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $269.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $271.10. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.94 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $95.00 billion, a PE ratio of 25.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.41.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.40%.

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.