3,539 Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Acquired by LM Advisors LLC

LM Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,539 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $822,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CME. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $256.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $81,951.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,765,601.39. This represents a 1.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,533,180. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $285.87. The company had a trading volume of 1,486,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,184,964. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $287.05. The company has a market capitalization of $103.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $269.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $250.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The business's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS 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 given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. CME Group's payout ratio is 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.