PUREfi Wealth LLC Increases Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

PUREfi Wealth LLC increased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 40.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the quarter. PUREfi Wealth LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 78.6% in the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 3.0% in the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Radnor Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 32.9% in the first quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 1,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 19.6% in the first quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 2.3% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 73,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $264.67 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $213.94 and a one year high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $269.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $271.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.41.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total transaction of $102,704.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $303.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Barclays set a $298.00 target price on shares of CME Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $274.15.

About CME Group

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.