Principle Wealth Partners LLC Increases Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Principle Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 16.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,586 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 368 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 8.0% during the second quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after buying an additional 593 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.7% during the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 60,718 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,683,000 after buying an additional 1,606 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Parcion Private Wealth LLC increased its position in CME Group by 1.0% during the second quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobsen Capital Management acquired a new position in CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $268.90 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.94 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The company has a market cap of $96.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.06, a P/E/G ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 0.41. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $266.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $271.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $266.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $284.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total value of $102,704.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 258,459 shares in the company, valued at $68,540,742.21. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.