First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Acquires 8,695 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in CME Group by 20.2%, acquiring an additional 8,695 shares, bringing their total shares to 51,830, valued at approximately $14.3 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Wayfinding Financial LLC and Golden State Wealth Management LLC, significantly adjusted their positions in CME Group, with the majority of the company's stock (87.75%) owned by institutional investors.
• A number of analysts updated their price targets on CME Group, with recommendations ranging from “buy” to “sell”, resulting in an average target price of $284.87.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 20.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,830 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,695 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $14,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth $25,000. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 206.9% during the 2nd quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 122.2% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 84.3% during the second quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 612.5% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $284.87.

CME Group Stock Down 0.3%

CME opened at $267.81 on Thursday. The company's 50-day moving average is $266.67 and its 200 day moving average is $271.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $213.94 and a fifty-two week high of $290.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 0.41.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The business's revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.68 EPS. Research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group's payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

About CME Group

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.

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