Guardian Partners Inc. Acquires New Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 15,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,620,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $28,859,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 52,432 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $12,176,000 after acquiring an additional 3,587 shares during the last quarter. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd increased its position in CME Group by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd now owns 12,606 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,927,000 after purchasing an additional 3,415 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 46.3% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 34,154 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,932,000 after buying an additional 10,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 84 shares of company stock valued at $19,624 and have sold 27,076 shares valued at $6,871,496. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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CME Group Stock Down 0.3 %

CME Group stock traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $261.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,892,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,935,577. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.08, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $267.91. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $249.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $235.32.

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 for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James upgraded shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus 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.