Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC Takes Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 8,786 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,331,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 326,623 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,946,717,000 after purchasing an additional 104,697 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $947,821,000 after purchasing an additional 61,908 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CME. Barclays lifted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America lifted their price target on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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, Citigroup lifted their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $260.93.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total transaction of $271,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,915 shares in the company, valued at $790,781.20. The trade was a 25.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total value of $1,304,836.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 8,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,339,164.96. This represents a 35.81% 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 insiders.

CME Group Trading Down 0.0%

CME traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $275.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,531,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,181,193. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $276.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $259.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.44.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.03% and a net margin of 57.71%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were 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 was Monday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.