Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Buys New Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Key Points

• Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. acquired 1,830 shares of CME Group Inc. valued at approximately $485,000 during the first quarter.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of CME Group's stock, with significant increases reported by several investment firms in the last quarter.
• CME Group's recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting $2.96 earnings per share, up from $2.56 in the same quarter last year.

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,830 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $485,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 122.2% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 612.5% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in CME Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total value of $817,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,471,824. The trade was a 35.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $81,951.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 24,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,765,601.39. The trade was a 1.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,576,294 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CME. Citigroup lifted their target price on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays set a $298.00 price objective on shares of CME Group and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $261.93.

CME Group Trading Down 0.1%

CME traded down $0.40 during trading on Thursday, hitting $280.95. 1,675,975 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,046,526. 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 50 day simple moving average of $275.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.32. The firm has a market cap of $101.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.20, a P/E/G ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.44. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $202.35 and a 1 year high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.40%.

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.