Sanctuary Advisors LLC Buys 5,795 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,522 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,795 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $11,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,823,964,000 after purchasing an additional 142,692 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 11.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,038,676,000 after buying an additional 537,758 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in CME Group by 3.2% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,029,145 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $595,530,000 after acquiring an additional 94,302 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in CME Group by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $557,371,000 after acquiring an additional 176,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $554,707,000 after purchasing an additional 380,071 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total transaction of $1,019,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,053 shares in the company, valued at $6,131,291.92. This represents a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,028 shares of company stock worth $1,811,681 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5 %

CME traded up $1.24 on Friday, reaching $237.19. 1,810,553 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,966,121. The company has a market cap of $85.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94, a PEG ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $229.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.79. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $249.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.25 EPS. CME Group's revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $5.80 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $244.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $226.20.

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.