Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL Boosts Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL grew its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its position in CME Group by 108.7% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 6,453 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $6,144,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its position in CME Group by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its position in CME Group by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,730,000 after purchasing an additional 52,862 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in CME Group by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,028,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,432,000 after purchasing an additional 303,169 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $254.57 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $258.78. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of CME Group 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,076 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,496 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.