Donoghue Forlines LLC Makes New $3.83 Million Investment in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Key Points

• Donoghue Forlines LLC invested approximately $3.83 million in CME Group, acquiring 14,437 shares, making it the 9th largest holding in their portfolio.
• Insider trading activity revealed that Directors Daniel G. Kaye and Charles P. Carey sold a total of 1,000 shares recently, indicating a decrease in their positions of 12.00% and 9.26%, respectively.
• CME Group reported a 10.4% increase in revenue for the last quarter, reaching $1.69 billion with earnings per share of $2.96, exceeding analysts' expectations.

Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 14,437 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,830,000. CME Group comprises about 1.2% of Donoghue Forlines LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 32,941.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,858,887 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $493,144,000 after buying an additional 1,853,261 shares during the last quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 79.4% in the first quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP now owns 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $459,003,000 after buying an additional 765,773 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 29.9% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,818,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $747,744,000 after buying an additional 648,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,135,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $728,260,000 after buying an additional 621,713 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $261.93.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock traded up $1.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $282.21. The company had a trading volume of 1,488,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,048,058. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $203.77 and a 12 month high of $290.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.44. The firm's fifty day moving average is $275.84 and its 200 day moving average is $266.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 390 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.50, for a total value of $108,225.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 6,708 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,861,470. The trade was a 5.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 256 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,196 shares in the company, valued at $69,849,763.88. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,750 shares of company stock worth $1,576,294. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group 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.