Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Sells 155 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 155 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CME. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 570.6% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 188.4% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $262.72 on Thursday. 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 has a market cap of $94.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $267.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $235.14.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CME. Barclays boosted their price objective on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.93.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,686,980. The trade was a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. Company 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.