Benin Management CORP Increases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Benin Management CORP lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 33.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 740 shares during the quarter. Benin Management CORP’s holdings in CME Group were worth $683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. purchased a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at $313,000. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $601,000. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $5,141,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,371,000 after acquiring an additional 176,004 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total value of $226,960.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,403,279.44. The trade was a 8.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.6 %

CME Group stock opened at $234.68 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $233.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $220.78. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $249.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.56. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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 given a $5.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup downgraded 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 report on Monday, January 6th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $229.27.

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.