GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Buys 3,223 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 11.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,223 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $8,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Amundi boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 24.0% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $548,150,000 after buying an additional 385,225 shares during the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 86.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,896,000 after acquiring an additional 13,512 shares during the period. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 85.2% during the 3rd quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 3,919 shares during the last quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 310.2% in the second quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 583.8% in the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 13,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,601,000 after acquiring an additional 11,378 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays increased their price target on CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. TD Cowen upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $292.18.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $282.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $274.17 and a 200 day moving average of $271.97. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $232.32 and a 12 month high of $290.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $101.95 billion, a PE ratio of 27.40, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.27.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were given a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the purchase, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total transaction of $263,530.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,511.23. This represents a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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.