Martingale Asset Management L P Acquires 973 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,004 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 973 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P's holdings in CME Group were worth $2,788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 287.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 186,608 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $41,175,000 after buying an additional 138,412 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,574 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 234,565 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,757,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 6.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,113 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upped their target price on CME Group from $263.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $247.47.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock traded up $1.47 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $264.34. 464,606 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,131,649. The company has a market cap of $95.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. 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 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $273.42. The company's 50 day moving average is $256.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.72.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share 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 research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 1.89%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.