Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 3,672 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 435,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,672 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $101,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. St. James Investment Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $7,878,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in CME Group by 202.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 564,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,983,000 after buying an additional 377,414 shares in the last quarter. Skba Capital Management LLC raised its position in CME Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Skba Capital Management LLC now owns 73,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,113,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 26,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,198,000 after acquiring an additional 4,476 shares during the period. Finally, IPG Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,530,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.53.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1 %

CME Group stock opened at $262.54 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $267.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $94.61 billion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $251.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $236.71.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group declared that its board 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 reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

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.