West Michigan Advisors LLC Sells 3,077 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

West Michigan Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,077 shares during the quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 66.1% in the second quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 515.2% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 62.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on CME Group from $219.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on CME Group from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Four investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $222.07.

Insider Activity

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

CME Group Stock Up 1.1 %

CME opened at $229.69 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $230.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $218.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.66. The company has a market capitalization of $82.70 billion, a PE ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.55.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.25 EPS. Analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

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.