Auto Owners Insurance Co Has $79.59 Million Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 15,213.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 300,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 298,041 shares during the period. CME Group comprises about 1.5% of Auto Owners Insurance Co's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Auto Owners Insurance Co owned 0.08% of CME Group worth $79,587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $377,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 256.9% in the 1st quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 2,636 shares during the last quarter. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $367,000. Fulcrum Equity Management acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $258,000. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $548,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $299.00 to $298.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $261.93.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total value of $1,304,836.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,336 shares in the company, valued at $2,339,164.96. The trade was a 35.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total transaction of $271,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $790,781.20. This represents a 25.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,400 shares of company stock valued at $3,152,410. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $2.37 on Friday, hitting $279.55. 1,834,736 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,117,443. The company's 50 day moving average price is $276.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $262.25. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $193.25 and a one year high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.06, a PEG ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.44.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.40%.

CME Group Profile

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.