CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stake Trimmed by Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 67 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 570.6% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 188.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 120.3% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.6 %

CME opened at $253.77 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $238.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.22. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $254.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $91.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.