Principle Wealth Partners LLC Buys Shares of 2,558 CME Group Inc. $CME

Principle Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $867,313,000. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $769,376,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $629,771,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 746.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807,491 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased 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 owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CME. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $267.88 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $96.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $250.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $280.07.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.96 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.11%.

CME Group Company 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.