Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 945 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Key Points

• Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in CME Group Inc. by 5.1% during the first quarter, owning 19,431 shares valued at approximately $5.16 million.
• Institutional investors hold a significant portion of CME Group stock, owning 87.75% of the company's shares, with notable increases in holdings by firms like Carnegie Investment Counsel.
• CME Group reported a quarterly EPS of $2.96, slightly outperforming expectations and indicating a 10.4% year-over-year revenue growth.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,431 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 945 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,155,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lifeworks Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 27.0% in the first quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 1,706 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth about $204,000. SFE Investment Counsel bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth about $281,000. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its stake in CME Group by 1,102.3% during the first quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 136,435 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,041,000 after buying an additional 125,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Opes Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in CME Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $375,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total transaction of $132,675.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,300,215. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total transaction of $141,210.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,668 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,916.56. This represents a 12.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,400 shares of company stock worth $2,881,130 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $261.93.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME traded up $2.85 during trading on Thursday, hitting $280.59. The stock had a trading volume of 427,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,361,900. The firm has a market cap of $101.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.16, a P/E/G ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.44. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $193.25 and a 12 month high of $290.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $276.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.21.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. Analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.