Personal CFO Solutions LLC Sells 395 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Personal CFO Solutions LLC reduced its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 24.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 395 shares during the quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter valued at $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 570.6% in 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. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 188.4% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 120.3% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of 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 downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.93.

CME Group Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of CME stock opened at $262.28 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $262.51. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $231.22. The company has a market capitalization of $94.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,076 shares of company stock worth $4,271,496 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.