24,366 Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Acquired by Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 24,366 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,658,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in CME Group by 9.7% during the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,113 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in CME Group by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 96,069 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,198,000 after purchasing an additional 8,968 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 52.4% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 378 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 13.6% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 48,522 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,114,000 after acquiring an additional 5,795 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $263.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $269.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $247.47.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % 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 valued at $6,871,496. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.4 %

CME traded up $1.14 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $262.53. 1,794,607 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,141,681. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week 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 company has a market cap of $94.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $256.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $239.87.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.