CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Purchased by Moran Wealth Management LLC

Moran Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 226.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 71,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 49,706 shares during the quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $16,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Summit Global Investments raised its stake in CME Group by 62.0% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 24,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,323,000 after buying an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its holdings in CME Group by 500.0% in the third quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its position in CME Group by 1.2% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 5,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,212,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, YCG LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 5.9% during the third quarter. YCG LLC now owns 128,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,365,000 after acquiring an additional 7,209 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $254.57 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $258.78. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.85. The firm has a market cap of $91.74 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.71%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their price target on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $235.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of CME Group 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders 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 company insiders.

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.