Wills Financial Group Inc. Purchases 129 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Wills Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the quarter. Wills Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in CME Group by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 48,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,477,000 after purchasing an additional 8,443 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 12.2% in the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 30,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,156,000 after buying an additional 3,325 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 40.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,112,000 after acquiring an additional 3,112 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 149.4% during the 2nd quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 23,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,671,000 after acquiring an additional 14,234 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in CME Group by 18.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 283,171 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. This represents a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $312,062.88. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,652,298. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,028 shares of company stock worth $1,811,681. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup raised their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on CME Group from $219.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $224.47.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $246.02 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $227.46 and its 200 day moving average is $212.77. The stock has a market cap of $88.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.87, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.56. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $249.02. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.37%.

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.