Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Trims Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 534 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in CME Group by 21.2% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 48,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,477,000 after purchasing an additional 8,443 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in CME Group by 429.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 47,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,231,000 after buying an additional 38,540 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in CME Group by 12.2% during 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. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 4.7% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 99,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,518,000 after acquiring an additional 4,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 197.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,306,000 after acquiring an additional 4,025 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $223.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a PEG ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $222.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $210.17. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $230.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $224.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,877,504.39. This represents a 5.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total value of $1,629,381.87. Following the transaction, the director now owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at $11,932,706.13. This represents a 12.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,621 shares of company stock worth $3,441,063 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group 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.