Alberta Investment Management Corp Purchases New Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 42,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,367,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 122.2% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 612.5% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total transaction of $132,675.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,300,215. This trade represents a 9.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 256 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,881,130. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ CME opened at $280.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $101.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 0.44. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.62 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $276.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $263.89.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $261.93.

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.