Sei Investments Co. Sells 36,228 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sei Investments Co. decreased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 25.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 105,372 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 36,228 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $24,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 108.7% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,144,000. Spire Wealth Management raised 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 valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lifted its stake 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 valued at $75,730,000 after purchasing an additional 52,862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $503,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % 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, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $238.93.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of CME stock traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $262.22. 1,736,117 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,049,091. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $249.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $235.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $267.91. The company has a market cap of $94.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. This is an increase from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.