HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Lowers Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lowered its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 13.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 66,367 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 10,150 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up 1.1% of HighPoint Advisor Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $18,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 122,231 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,427,000 after acquiring an additional 7,139 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Services raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 9,670 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,565,000 after acquiring an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 1,484 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $298,000. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 27,851 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1%

CME Group stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $276.84. 1,007,390 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,376,688. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.25 and a fifty-two week high of $290.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a PEG ratio of 4.79 and a beta of 0.44. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $276.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $261.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 57.71% and a return on equity of 14.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. CME Group's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $282.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $261.73.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total transaction of $817,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,471,824. This trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total transaction of $271,280.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $790,781.20. This trade represents a 25.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,400 shares of company stock valued at $3,152,410 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Company Profile

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.