CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stake Raised by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,135 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,408 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $11,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 108.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 6,453 shares in the last quarter. Unified Investment Management acquired a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $503,000. Aspire Growth Partners LLC bought a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $548,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of CME Group by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,169,999 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $503,939,000 after purchasing an additional 343,498 shares during the period. Finally, Sentinel Trust Co. LBA acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $368,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $81,951.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,767 shares in the company, valued at $6,765,601.39. The trade was a 1.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,900 shares of company stock valued at $6,147,935. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $269.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $258.20.

CME Group Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $274.24 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $271.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $253.27. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $98.82 billion, a PE ratio of 28.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. The company's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

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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