Elevate Capital Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Elevate Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 85.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,919 shares during the period. CME Group comprises approximately 1.6% of Elevate Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Amundi increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 24.0% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $548,150,000 after buying an additional 385,225 shares during the period. Victory Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 310.2% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 86.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,896,000 after purchasing an additional 13,512 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 583.8% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 13,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 11,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investors Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Spolka Akcyjna purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth $1,389,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CME. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on CME Group from $307.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Barclays raised their target price on CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Cowen raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.94.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $275.23 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $99.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $225.46 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $274.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total value of $263,530.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,511.23. This trade represents a 47.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the acquisition, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.