Stamos Capital Partners L.P. Increases Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Stamos Capital Partners L.P. lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 63.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,200 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,690 shares during the quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CME. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,113 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in CME Group by 10.3% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 96,069 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,198,000 after buying an additional 8,968 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 52.4% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 378 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 13.6% in 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded CME Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $301.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $247.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of CME traded up $1.14 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $262.53. The company had a trading volume of 1,794,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,141,682. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $239.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $94.60 billion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $273.42.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal 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 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.