CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Acquired by Captrust Financial Advisors

Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,276 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,370 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors' holdings in CME Group were worth $2,709,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 137.6% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,260,644 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $444,443,000 after buying an additional 1,309,097 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 577.9% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 645,330 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $126,872,000 after purchasing an additional 550,133 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,038,676,000 after purchasing an additional 537,758 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 21,465.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 485,871 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,072,070,000 after purchasing an additional 483,618 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $79,692,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on CME Group from $219.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $244.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $221.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $224.47.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME traded down $6.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $239.38. 3,162,381 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,959,108. The stock has a market cap of $86.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 50 day moving average of $227.46 and a 200-day moving average of $212.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during 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%. CME Group's quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 EPS. Analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. CME Group's payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total transaction of $1,019,880.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,131,291.92. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,028 shares of company stock worth $1,811,681. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

About CME Group

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.