Souders Financial Advisors Purchases 2,160 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Souders Financial Advisors grew its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 35.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,160 shares during the period. Souders Financial Advisors’ holdings in CME Group were worth $1,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 570.6% during the 4th 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 during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 188.4% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 1.9 %

CME opened at $251.98 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $239.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $229.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.06, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $258.78.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.71%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,076 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,496 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Company 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.