Capital Wealth Planning LLC Buys 313,866 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 14.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,532,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 313,866 shares during the period. CME Group makes up 4.8% of Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Capital Wealth Planning LLC owned approximately 0.70% of CME Group worth $684,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CME. Caldwell Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 116.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,248 shares of company stock worth $1,616,700. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays upped their price objective on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $303.53.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $311.40 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $248.53 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $295.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $278.94.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 46.59%.

Key Headlines Impacting CME Group

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn raised its price target on CME to $347 (maintaining a “neutral” rating), implying roughly double-digit upside from recent levels and offering fresh analyst support for the shares. Rothschild Co Redburn adjusts price target on CME to 347 from 333, maintains neutral rating
• Neutral Sentiment: CME’s CEO Terry Duffy publicly warned that U.S. government intervention in oil futures markets would be highly damaging; exchanges including CME have voiced opposition to potential Treasury action. This raises policy/regulatory risk for energy derivatives but also underscores the exchange’s central role in market integrity — a factor that can support trading volumes in energy products if volatility rises. US intervention in oil futures would be ‘biblical disaster’, CME warns CME Group CEO warns against US intervention in oil futures markets US intervention in oil futures market could be disastrous: CME Group
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reporting in recent feeds shows zero or nonsensical values and appears to be a data anomaly rather than a real bearish signal; treat those short-interest items with caution. (Market impact minimal until corrected.)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Ken Vroman (Chief Transformation Officer) sold about 5,160 shares (~$1.59M) and SEC filings show multiple recent insider sales across senior staff. While insider sales can be routine, the cadence and size may raise governance/owner-sentiment questions for some investors. CME Group’s Vroman sells $1.59 million in stock Insider Sale: Chief Transformation Officer of $CME Sells 5,160 Shares

CME Group Company Profile

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.