North Reef Capital Management LP Sells 40,439 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

North Reef Capital Management LP lessened its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 184,561 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 40,439 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up about 1.9% of North Reef Capital Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. North Reef Capital Management LP owned about 0.05% of CME Group worth $42,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 570.6% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CME. UBS Group lifted their target price on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Bank of America lifted their target price on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $256.80.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Larry G. Gerdes sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.10, for a total transaction of $528,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 38,651 shares in the company, valued at $10,207,729.10. This represents a 4.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,076 shares of company stock worth $7,399,696. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME traded up $3.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $276.06. The stock had a trading volume of 647,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,152,105. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $276.20. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $259.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $242.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.50 EPS. CME Group's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.