Diversify Wealth Management LLC Raises Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its CME Group stake by 49% in Q1, buying 11,773 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 35,812 shares valued at about $10.3 million.
• CME continues to attract major institutional support, with hedge funds and other investors owning 87.75% of the company. Vanguard, State Street, and Norges Bank were among the large holders that recently added to or initiated positions.
• Analysts remain generally positive but have trimmed expectations: several firms cut price targets, and the stock currently carries a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target price of $293.59. Meanwhile, CME reported strong quarterly results and pays a $1.30 quarterly dividend, but faces some headwinds from weaker volumes and regulatory pushback on new products.

Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 49.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,812 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,773 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $10,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after buying an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in CME Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,408,747,000 after buying an additional 56,725 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in CME Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,344,776,000 after acquiring an additional 134,242 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,300,450,000 after acquiring an additional 130,848 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CME announced new products aimed at expanding trading activity, including Treasury LINK for U.S. Treasury spread trading and a new agriculture index that offers a unified benchmark for the global farm economy. CME Group to launch Treasury LINK for enhanced US Treasury spread trading CME Group's New Agriculture Index Delivers Unified Price Benchmark for the Global Farm Economy
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley kept an overweight rating but lowered its price target on CME to $324 from $353, while Barclays cut its target to $270 and moved to equal weight, signaling reduced near-term expectations but not a fundamentally bearish view. Morgan Stanley cuts CME price target Barclays cuts CME price target
• Negative Sentiment: The CFTC blocked CME’s plan to fast-track 24/7 crude oil futures trading, a setback that could limit a potentially important new revenue stream and raises regulatory risk around product innovation. CFTC to block CME's plan for 24/7 crude oil futures trading CFTC Blocks for Now CME’s Plan to Offer 24/7 Oil Futures
• Negative Sentiment: Reports also pointed to weaker trading volumes and rising competition weighing on CME Group, which could pressure transaction-based revenue growth if activity remains soft. Competition And Weaker Trading Volumes Are Weighing On CME Group (CME) Stock

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Piper Sandler set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $293.59.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $0.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $240.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,979,543 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,891,472. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $87.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $262.66 and a 200-day moving average of $283.19. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.24 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.37%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value 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 approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Company 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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