Wealth Management Associates Inc. Purchases New Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Wealth Management Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 206.9% in the 2nd quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 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 during the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 84.3% in the 2nd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 612.5% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $266.33 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $95.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $266.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $272.08.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side 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 announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on CME Group from $285.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $266.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $284.53.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,470,463.64. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total value of $102,704.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,056,962. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.