NewEdge Wealth LLC Has $3.58 Million Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 44.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,025 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,579,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 191.9% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 target price for the company. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.29.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $282.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $300.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.46. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.17 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $102.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.37%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the sale, the director owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,791 shares of company stock worth $2,489,421. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.