Accretive Wealth Partners LLC Cuts Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Accretive Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 59 shares during the quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 9.5% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 91,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,667,000 after buying an additional 7,960 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,981,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $437,320,000 after acquiring an additional 26,642 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 125.2% during the third quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 109,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,230,000 after purchasing an additional 61,054 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 27.1% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,262,000 after purchasing an additional 9,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in CME Group by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,826,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $403,017,000 after acquiring an additional 283,171 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CME. Bank of America increased their target price on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $219.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $224.47.

CME Group Stock Down 0.5 %

CME opened at $226.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $230.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $223.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $210.92. The stock has a market cap of $81.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.55.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.25 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. This trade represents a 12.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,621 shares of company stock valued at $3,441,063 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company 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.