Marshall Wace LLP Acquires Shares of 91,511 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 91,511 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $21,252,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 108.7% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 6,453 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $6,144,000. Unified Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $503,000. Spire Wealth Management increased its stake 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 valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its holdings in CME Group by 19.3% in the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $269.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $247.47.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group 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 directly owns 21,885 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 ninety days, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $262.53 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average is $257.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.53. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $273.42. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $94.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. CME Group's payout ratio is 51.71%.

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.

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