Sone Capital Management LLC Takes $8.05 Million Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sone Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 34,661 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,049,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 108.7% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,949,000 after buying an additional 6,453 shares during the last quarter. Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $503,000. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in CME Group by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its holdings in CME Group by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $75,730,000 after buying an additional 52,862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $548,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 390 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.50, for a total transaction of $108,225.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,708 shares in the company, valued at $1,861,470. The trade was a 5.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,884 shares of company stock valued at $7,389,843 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective 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. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $256.80.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1%

CME stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $282.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,783,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,184,866. The company has a market cap of $101.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The business's 50 day moving average price is $267.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.16. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $286.48.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend 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.