CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Bought by Markel Group Inc.

Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 216.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,500 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares during the quarter. Markel Group Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on CME shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $261.80.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $277.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.95, a PEG ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.44. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.25 and a fifty-two week high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $276.08 and a 200 day moving average of $260.36.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 57.71%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. CME Group's payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 256 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,849,763.88. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total value of $132,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,300,215. This trade represents a 9.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,400 shares of company stock valued at $3,680,610. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Company 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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