Advisory Alpha LLC Increases Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Advisory Alpha LLC increased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 218.3% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 357,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $85,057,000 after purchasing an additional 245,040 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. 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 research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.27.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $232.25 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $233.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $220.35. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $249.02. The firm has a market cap of $83.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.42, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.56.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $5.80 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding 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 typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $312,062.88. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,652,298. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total value of $1,019,880.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,053 shares in the company, valued at $6,131,291.92. This represents a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.