Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 22,094 CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Sandhill Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake of 22,094 shares in CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) during Q3, valued at about $5.97 million, with institutional investors owning roughly 87.75% of the stock.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently, offloading 30,248 shares in the last three months — including CEO Terrence A. Duffy's sale of 25,000 shares (~$6.74 million) and Director Dennis Suskind's 748-share sale — leaving insiders with only 0.30% ownership.
• Brokerages have raised price targets (consensus rating: Hold, consensus target $302.71) and CME boosted its quarterly dividend to $1.30 (annualized $5.20, ~1.6% yield).

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 22,094 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,970,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CME. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Atlatl Advisers LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,025 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,898,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Finemark National Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.9% during the third quarter. Finemark National Bank & Trust now owns 4,645 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,255,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on CME. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of CME Group from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.71.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at $809,700. The trade was a 21.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $317.10 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $292.18 and a 200-day moving average of $277.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $248.53 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $114.35 billion, a PE ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.52 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group's payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

CME Group Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world's largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company's core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.

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