Topsail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,058 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $252,000.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its position in CME Group by 52.4% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 378 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $7,615,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in CME Group by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 46,773 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $10,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Finally, Syntax Research Inc. purchased a new position in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $2,540,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity
In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 owns 8,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,076 shares of company stock worth $7,399,696 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.
CME Group Trading Up 0.6 %
CME stock traded up $1.62 during trading on Monday, reaching $267.92. 1,778,531 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,156,143. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.55 billion, a PE ratio of 27.71, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-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 business's 50 day moving average price is $258.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $242.09.
CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The firm's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.
CME Group Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.25 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.30%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays raised their target price on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $256.80.
View Our Latest Stock Report on CME Group
About CME Group
(
Free Report)
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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