MQS Management LLC Makes New $219,000 Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CME. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at $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 valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in 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 valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,470,463.64. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on CME Group from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CME Group from $312.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $284.53.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $271.09 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $266.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $272.02. The firm has a market cap of $97.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a PEG ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.41. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.94 and a 1 year 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.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.45%.

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.