Smith Salley Wealth Management Has $2.27 Million Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Smith Salley Wealth Management increased its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 7,676.3% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,205,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $584,975,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176,685 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of CME Group by 370.5% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $704,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,935 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter worth about $218,842,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 185.5% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,244,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $330,182,000 after purchasing an additional 808,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP grew its holdings in CME Group by 79.4% during the 1st quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP now owns 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $459,003,000 after acquiring an additional 765,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on CME. Barclays set a $298.00 price objective on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $268.14.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $270.28 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.94 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The company has a market cap of $97.40 billion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a PEG ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s 50-day moving average is $270.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $271.04.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.40%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at $2,470,463.64. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.