MCF Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 25.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 73 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $85,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CME. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $313,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 8.5% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter worth $200,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth $45,651,000. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 59.9% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 68,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,558,000 after acquiring an additional 25,845 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.27.

CME Group Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of CME stock opened at $232.53 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $249.02. The stock has a market cap of $83.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $233.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $220.60.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. CME Group’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.25 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $5.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares in the company, valued at $1,652,298. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total value of $1,019,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,131,291.92. This trade represents a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 in the last ninety days. 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.