First National Advisers LLC Sells 2,271 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

First National Advisers LLC cut its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,271 shares during the period. First National Advisers LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 93,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,731,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $1,157,000. one8zero8 LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $852,000. Choate Investment Advisors increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 1,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 182,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,495,000 after purchasing an additional 17,575 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $258.68 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $242.80 and a 200-day moving average of $232.45. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $263.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market cap of $93.22 billion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

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

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows 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 board believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business 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 $1.25 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

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.