Churchill Financial Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Churchill Financial Advisors opened a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter, buying 5,548 shares valued at about $1.5 million.
• CME Group recently reported strong quarterly results, beating analyst estimates with EPS of $3.36 on revenue of $1.88 billion, and revenue rose 14.5% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, while analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of about $305.29.

Churchill Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,548 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,515,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in CME Group by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $19,106,000 after purchasing an additional 5,773 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 78.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,281 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,588,000 after purchasing an additional 5,855 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 345.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $64,965,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Dover Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 95.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 5,597 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 2,734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in CME Group by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 153,625 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $41,508,000 after purchasing an additional 20,477 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $291.23 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $105.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.17 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $296.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.29.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $305.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $305.29.

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.

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