CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Acquired by CWC Advisors LLC.

CWC Advisors LLC. lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 57.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,588 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,666 shares during the period. CWC Advisors LLC.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 1.0% during 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 lifted its holdings in CME Group by 1.3% during the fourth 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 during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth 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 during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% during the fourth 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $1.93 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $274.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,681,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,208,080. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.01 billion, a PE ratio of 26.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.45. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.17 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $275.21 and a 200 day moving average of $256.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 57.71% and a return on equity of 14.03%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect 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. 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 dividend yield of 1.82%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.30%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total value of $132,675.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,300,215. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 256 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 258,196 shares in the company, valued at $69,849,763.88. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CME. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $258.20.

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.