158 Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Bought by Whipplewood Advisors LLC

Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its position in CME Group by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 9,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,100,000 after purchasing an additional 831 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 30,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,174,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 5,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,949,000 after acquiring an additional 6,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 40,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,358,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

CME Group Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $253.77 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $254.40. The business has a 50 day moving average of $238.42 and a 200-day moving average of $229.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $91.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.24, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.