Little House Capital LLC Increases Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Little House Capital LLC has increased its stake in CME Group Inc. by 27.3% during the second quarter, now holding 8,224 shares valued at approximately $2.27 million.
• CME Group has received mixed ratings from analysts, with four analysts rating it as a Buy and others expressing cautious views; the average target price for the stock is $260.60.
• The company reported a quarterly profit of $2.96 earnings per share, exceeding expectations and reflecting a 10.4% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Little House Capital LLC increased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,224 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,765 shares during the period. Little House Capital LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $2,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in CME Group by 206.9% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in CME Group in the first quarter worth $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 612.5% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in CME Group in the first quarter worth $31,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Barclays set a $298.00 price target on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $260.60.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $258.83 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.38 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company's 50-day moving average is $273.13 and its 200 day moving average is $270.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. CME Group's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group's payout ratio is currently 48.40%.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the company'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 sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. This represents a 40.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 256 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the acquisition, the director owned 258,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $69,849,763.88. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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