Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Sells 2,210 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,910 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,210 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $4,853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 108.7% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,949,000 after acquiring an additional 6,453 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,144,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in CME Group by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $75,730,000 after acquiring an additional 52,862 shares during the period. Finally, Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $503,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,873 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ CME traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $262.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,736,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,049,091. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $235.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $267.91. The stock has a market cap of $94.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.12, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

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

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $238.93.

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.