ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 85,710 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,896 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $19,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 108.7% during the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 6,453 shares in the last quarter. Unified Investment Management bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $503,000. Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 37.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 19.3% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $548,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms have recently commented on CME. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James upgraded shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $256.80.
Read Our Latest Report on CME Group
CME Group Price Performance
NASDAQ CME traded up $1.23 on Thursday, reaching $282.97. The company had a trading volume of 610,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,177,014. 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 capitalization of $101.97 billion, a PE ratio of 29.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $267.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.16. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $286.48.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. CME Group's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.
CME Group Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. CME Group's payout ratio is 50.30%.
Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group
In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 390 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.50, for a total value of $108,225.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,708 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,861,470. This represents a 5.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,884 shares of company stock worth $7,389,843. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
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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