CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Grows Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 521,568 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,531 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.14% of CME Group worth $121,036,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $1,107,389,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in CME Group by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $565,671,000 after purchasing an additional 996,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $223,967,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $269.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Raymond James raised CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $247.47.

CME Group Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded down $2.20 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $260.33. 2,448,673 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,145,923. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $257.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $240.65. The stock has a market cap of $93.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.92, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $273.42.

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 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%. On average, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.71%.

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.