14,375 Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME Bought by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 14,375 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,175,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID boosted its stake in CME Group by 191.9% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $288.56.

CME Group Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of CME opened at $279.17 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $251.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $279.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

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.