HighTower Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors reduced its CME Group stake by 19.8% in the second quarter, selling 74,167 shares and retaining 300,011 shares valued at approximately $66.3 million. Institutional investors collectively own 87.75% of the company.
• CME Group exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.99 in EPS on $1.71 billion in revenue, while revenue increased 0.8% year over year. Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $289.75.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, equivalent to $5.20 annually and a 1.8% yield, payable September 25 to shareholders of record as of September 9.

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 19.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 300,011 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 74,167 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of CME Group worth $66,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Bayban bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $281.29 on Tuesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $260.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $101.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The business's revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $289.75.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William Shepard acquired 325 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

About CME Group

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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