Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 91 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 91 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in CME Group were worth $91,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 1,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network grew its holdings in CME Group by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 2,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.93.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $262.22 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $267.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $249.65 and a 200-day moving average of $235.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.12, a P/E/G 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 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 51.71%.

CME Group 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.