Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 3,713 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $819,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CME. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 66.1% in the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 515.2% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 62.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price target on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America upped their price target on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Redburn Atlantic cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $222.73.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of CME Group 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,621 shares of company stock valued at $3,441,063 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $220.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 92,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,910,253. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $230.36. The company’s 50-day moving average is $221.36 and its 200-day moving average is $209.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $79.47 billion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.55.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

About CME Group

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.