CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Sold by Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC

Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,726 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 998 shares during the period. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $8,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CME. FIL Ltd grew its stake in CME Group by 1.5% in 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. Canopy Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $202,000. Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,634 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,166,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 83,014 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,929,000 after acquiring an additional 10,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,094 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $719,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $247.47.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $3.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $261.54. 2,756,965 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,138,864. The stock has a market cap of $94.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.05, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $255.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $239.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $273.42.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is 51.71%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.