Focus Partners Wealth Grows Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in CME Group by 13.0% in Q3, owning 233,348 shares worth about $63.05 million (≈0.06% of the company) as institutional investors hold roughly 87.8% of the stock.
• CME carries a consensus rating of Hold with an average target of $304.06, though several analysts raised targets or ratings recently (TD Cowen to $328/"buy"; Erste to "strong-buy") while JPMorgan remains underweight.
• The company modestly beat quarterly estimates (EPS $2.77 vs. $2.75; revenue $1.65B vs. $1.64B) and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 ($5.20 annual, ~1.7% yield), with an ex-dividend date of March 10.

Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 13.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 233,348 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 26,780 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth owned 0.06% of CME Group worth $63,048,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Caldwell Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $304.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,194.10. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,248 shares of company stock valued at $1,616,700. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $313.83 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $248.53 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $113.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.12, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $296.58 and a 200-day moving average of $279.39.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The business's revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.52 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

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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