Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 302 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lowered its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 19.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 302 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in CME Group during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 966.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 1,233.3% during the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $217.80.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $207.65. The company had a trading volume of 2,065,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,130. The stock has a market cap of $74.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.48. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.73 and a 52 week high of $223.80. The business’s 50-day moving average is $214.30 and its 200-day moving average is $211.64. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. Equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

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.