EP Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 30,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,758,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in CME Group by 103.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 1,325.2% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after buying an additional 21,918 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in CME Group by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after buying an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $274.98 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $279.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. Analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.