Westbourne Investments Inc. Buys New Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Westbourne Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc., purchasing 2,650 shares valued at approximately $703,000 in the first quarter.
• Several large investors, including Wayfinding Financial LLC and Cornerstone Planning Group LLC, also increased their stakes in CME Group, highlighting a trend of institutional investment in the company.
• CME Group recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.25, with a dividend yield of 1.9%, reflecting its commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Westbourne Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,650 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $703,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $377,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 256.9% during the 1st quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $971,000 after acquiring an additional 2,636 shares during the last quarter. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in CME Group in the first quarter worth $367,000. Fulcrum Equity Management bought a new stake in CME Group in the first quarter worth $258,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd lifted its position in CME Group by 17.8% in the first quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,645 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,416,000 after buying an additional 2,510 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays set a $298.00 price target on CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Four equities research 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $260.60.

CME Group Stock Down 0.0%

CME traded down $0.08 on Friday, hitting $262.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,537,684 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,837,493. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $273.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $270.29. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.38 and a 12-month high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a P/E/G ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.56 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 256 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 258,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $69,849,763.88. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was 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 $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 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.