Empowered Funds LLC Raises Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 251.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,165 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $9,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 3.6% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,924,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 5,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 27,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,389,000 after buying an additional 1,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Alliance LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.1% in the first quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 1,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $279.28 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $268.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $272.83. 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 has a market cap of $100.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.06, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $224.62 and a 1-year high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus dropped their target price on CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Citigroup raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $275.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $287.65.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,734,436.80. This trade represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at $2,056,962. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 14,043 shares of company stock worth $3,791,486 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company 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.