Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 1,733 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 24.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,774 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,733 shares during the quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $2,088,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,339 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 40.4% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 271 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 11,348 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,635,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,035 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $937,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $301,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 390 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.50, for a total transaction of $108,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 6,708 shares in the company, valued at $1,861,470. This trade represents a 5.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total value of $1,304,836.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,339,164.96. The trade was a 35.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 27,884 shares of company stock valued at $7,389,843. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on CME shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler increased 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on 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, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $256.80.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock traded up $3.87 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $281.74. The stock had a trading volume of 2,220,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,183,065. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $286.48. The company has a market capitalization of $101.53 billion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The firm's fifty day moving average is $266.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $247.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

About CME Group

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.