Equitable Holdings Inc. Invests $1.20 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

Equitable Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,204,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Up 1.7%

CME opened at $285.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $253.80 and its 200 day moving average is $279.13. The stock has a market cap of $102.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings cut CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $288.56.

CME Group 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.