iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 19.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 97,874 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,264 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $22,729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.6% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,003 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,545,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 10.1% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth $5,569,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 17.3% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 152,789 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,713,000 after acquiring an additional 22,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 31.0% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,970 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James raised 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. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $238.93.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on CME Group
CME Group Price Performance
CME traded down $0.41 during trading on Monday, hitting $262.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,131,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,929,391. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $247.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $234.65. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $267.91.
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%. Sell-side 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 approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
CME Group Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.71%.
CME Group Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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