Sanctuary Advisors LLC Grows Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 13.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,795 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $11,114,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,823,964,000 after acquiring an additional 142,692 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,038,676,000 after purchasing an additional 537,758 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of CME Group by 3.2% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,029,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $595,530,000 after purchasing an additional 94,302 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in CME Group by 6.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,371,000 after purchasing an additional 176,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in CME Group by 17.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,707,000 after buying an additional 380,071 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on CME Group in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $221.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $226.20.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $237.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $85.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.94, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $229.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $213.79. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $249.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. This trade represents a 5.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,028 shares of company stock worth $1,811,681. 0.30% of the stock is currently 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.