Guidance Capital Inc. Takes $311,000 Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Guidance Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,110 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Choreo LLC raised its position in CME Group by 66.1% in the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 11,024 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,924,000 after purchasing an additional 4,387 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 122,231 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,427,000 after acquiring an additional 7,139 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Services increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 9,670 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,565,000 after acquiring an additional 983 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 1,484 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Investors Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $298,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CME. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Bank of America increased their price objective on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $261.80.

CME Group Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of CME stock opened at $274.64 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $193.25 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $275.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $261.04. The company has a market capitalization of $98.97 billion, a PE ratio of 27.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.44.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 57.71%. CME Group's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 256 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 258,196 shares in the company, valued at $69,849,763.88. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total transaction of $132,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,300,215. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610 over the last ninety days. 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.

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