Markel Group Inc. Invests $697,000 in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Markel Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $697,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 108.7% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 6,453 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $6,144,000. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lifted its stake in CME Group by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $75,730,000 after purchasing an additional 52,862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,028,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $224,432,000 after acquiring an additional 303,169 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Raymond James raised 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 note on Monday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. 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 research note on Monday, January 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $238.93.

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Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,076 shares of company stock worth $4,271,496 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME traded up $2.65 on Thursday, reaching $259.37. 959,146 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,886,413. The firm has a market cap of $93.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $241.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $231.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $263.65.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) 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 predict 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 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 a boost 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 1.93%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.