Crewe Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 559 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $120,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Second Half Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,737,000. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,823,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 1,041,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,230,000 after purchasing an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Bluefin Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,891,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 81.4% during the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 44,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,588,000 after purchasing an additional 19,985 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $187.00 target price (up previously from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on CME Group from $195.00 to $193.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised their price objective on CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on CME Group from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $212.64.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Daniel R. Glickman sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.44, for a total transaction of $130,936.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,821,771.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at $14,226,934.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,290 shares of company stock valued at $11,393,700 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock traded up $2.13 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $199.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,080,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,968,668. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $200.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.93. The company has a market capitalization of $71.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.68, a PEG ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 0.52. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The company’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.77 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.33%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.