Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Lowers Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,190,661,000 after buying an additional 400,737 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,091,401,000 after purchasing an additional 363,130 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 29.9% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,818,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $747,744,000 after purchasing an additional 648,591 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $735,539,000 after purchasing an additional 260,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,727,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $723,660,000 after purchasing an additional 290,147 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on CME Group from $303.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on CME Group from $281.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CME Group from $246.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $279.23.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total value of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 1.5%

CME Group stock opened at $268.84 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $269.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $213.94 and a one year high of $290.79. The stock has a market cap of $96.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.58 and a beta of 0.41.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The company’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.40%.

CME Group Profile

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.