GC Wealth Management RIA LLC Reduces Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

GC Wealth Management RIA LLC reduced its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 78.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,333 shares during the quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caldwell Trust Co increased its position in CME Group by 116.3% during the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 64.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.29.

CME Group Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $289.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $104.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $303.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $286.68. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $257.17 and a 12-month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.80 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.37%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.