Brookstone Capital Management Lowers Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Brookstone Capital Management trimmed its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 78.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,481 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in CME Group were worth $365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 191.9% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $221.00 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $273.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $285.85. The company has a market cap of $80.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.21. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $220.73 and a 12-month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.24.

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.