Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Purchases 6,951 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. raised its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,951 shares during the quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $28,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caldwell Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 116.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new position in CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in CME Group by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $305.11 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $304.71 and a 200-day moving average of $283.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $109.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.26. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $248.53 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.06.

CME Group Company 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.