Captrust Financial Advisors Acquires 5,803 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Captrust Financial Advisors increased its CME Group stake by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, buying 5,803 shares and bringing its total holding to 558,732 shares worth about $152.6 million.
• CME Group reported solid quarterly results, with EPS of $3.36 and revenue of $1.88 billion, both ahead of analyst estimates; revenue also rose 14.5% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, payable June 25, for an annualized dividend of $5.20 and a yield of 2.0%.

Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 558,732 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,803 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors owned approximately 0.15% of CME Group worth $152,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. West Family Investments Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 1.2% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC grew its position in CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC grew its position in CME Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,147,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its position in CME Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, 1248 Management LLC grew its position in CME Group by 26.8% during the third quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $261.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $94.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.21. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $244.56 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $283.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $287.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The company's revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Argus restated a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Monday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $305.71.

CME Group Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world's largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company's core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CME? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.