CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Purchased by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 85,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,896 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $19,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 108.7% during the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,949,000 after acquiring an additional 6,453 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $503,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,730,000 after acquiring an additional 52,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $548,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CME. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $256.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,134 shares of company stock valued at $6,087,434 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $276.29 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $99.56 billion, a PE ratio of 28.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $286.48. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $265.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $247.04.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.30%.

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.