Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 326,623 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.50% of CME Group worth $7,952,273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in CME Group by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,369 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 27.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,508 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,262,000 after purchasing an additional 9,905 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 72,917 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $16,089,000 after buying an additional 27,332 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of CME Group by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 71,050 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,677,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 752.9% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,320 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 2,048 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group
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 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 of the company's stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
CME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $238.93.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on CME
CME Group Trading Up 0.1 %
Shares of CME traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $262.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,736,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,049,091. 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 fifty day moving average is $249.65 and its 200 day moving average is $235.63. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $267.91. The firm has a market cap of $94.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.
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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.
CME Group announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
CME Group Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is an increase from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.
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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