Brookstone Capital Management Purchases 833 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 833 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in CME Group were worth $8,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $313,000. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,021,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 3.5% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 181,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,658,000 after buying an additional 6,178 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 47,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after buying an additional 1,294 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 2.1% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 26,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,168,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total transaction of $1,019,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,053 shares in the company, valued at $6,131,291.92. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares in the company, valued at $1,652,298. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $229.45 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $82.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $232.68 and a 200-day moving average of $219.11. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $249.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. CME Group’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.27.

CME Group 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.