Cohen Investment Advisors LLC Sells 142 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Cohen Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 8.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 142 shares during the period. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Webster Bank N. A. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 206.9% in the second quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 122.2% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 84.3% in the second quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 612.5% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $275.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,056,962. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $264.94 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.94 and a 52 week 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 company has a market capitalization of $95.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $269.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $271.06.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. 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 prior year, the firm earned $2.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

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.