Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 26,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,099,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the third quarter worth about $400,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 1,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $639,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB raised its holdings in CME Group by 10.1% during the third quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 29,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,901,000 after purchasing an additional 2,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 2,522.7% during the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. TD Cowen raised their price target on CME Group from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Argus reduced their price objective on CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $290.82.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total transaction of $263,530.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at $287,511.23. The trade was a 47.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $276.73 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $224.62 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $271.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.79 billion, a PE ratio of 26.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.45%.

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.