Titleist Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 1,070 CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Titleist Asset Management LLC has acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc., purchasing 1,070 shares valued at approximately $284,000.
• Several other institutional investors, including SeaCrest Wealth Management and OneAscent Financial Services, have also increased their holdings in CME Group during the first quarter.
• CME Group recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.96, surpassing analysts' expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.25, resulting in a 1.9% yield.

Titleist Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,070 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CME. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 7,676.3% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,205,041 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $584,975,000 after buying an additional 2,176,685 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in CME Group by 370.5% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $704,068,000 after buying an additional 2,089,935 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 32,941.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,858,887 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $493,144,000 after buying an additional 1,853,261 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in CME Group during the first quarter worth about $218,842,000. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP boosted its stake in CME Group by 79.4% during the first quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP now owns 1,730,194 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $459,003,000 after buying an additional 765,773 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock traded up $3.95 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $269.35. The stock had a trading volume of 2,136,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,773,067. The company's 50 day moving average price is $275.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $269.61. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.38 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $97.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays set a $298.00 price target on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $261.93.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 256 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the purchase, the director owned 258,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.