Ritholtz Wealth Management Has $1.18 Million Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 10.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,946,717,000 after purchasing an additional 104,697 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $947,821,000 after purchasing an additional 61,908 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on CME Group from $282.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $258.20.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $269.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $273.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $97.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.13, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.45. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 57.71%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.30%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total value of $817,680.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,471,824. The trade was a 35.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total value of $271,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,915 shares in the company, valued at $790,781.20. The trade was a 25.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Company Profile

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.