Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 109.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 174,126 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 91,112 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $46,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after buying an additional 326,623 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,946,717,000 after buying an additional 104,697 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $947,821,000 after buying an additional 61,908 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $269.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $260.93.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total transaction of $271,280.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $790,781.20. This represents a 25.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total value of $817,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,471,824. This trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $275.08 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $276.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $259.23. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.25 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.44.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 57.71%. The company'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, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.30%.

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.

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