Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 277.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,425 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,571,447,000. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $164,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after acquiring an additional 532,549 shares in the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in CME Group by 131,625.5% during the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 486,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,970,000 after acquiring an additional 485,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HRT Financial LP purchased a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter worth about $127,103,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Bank of America boosted their target price on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CME Group from $252.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.06.

CME Group Stock Down 1.6%

CME stock opened at $262.45 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $225.46 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $273.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $271.89.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the transaction, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.