CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Holdings Boosted by Abacus Planning Group Inc.

Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Appleton Partners Inc. MA grew its stake in CME Group by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 16,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,652,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at $1,087,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $286,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $9,013,000. Finally, Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $644,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on CME shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on CME Group in a research report on Friday, September 27th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $235.00 price target for the company. Bank of America lowered CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $212.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $221.00 target price for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $212.54.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $223.57 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 8.74 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $211.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.59. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $225.95.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. CME Group’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at $2,877,504.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.