2,291 Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Purchased by Lee Danner & Bass Inc.

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,291 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $532,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 570.6% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 188.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $238.93.

CME Group Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $0.66 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $262.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,909,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,933,584. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $247.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $234.95.

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, topping 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, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. CME Group's payout ratio is currently 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.