Lbp Am Sa Sells 80,782 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Lbp Am Sa reduced its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 91.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 80,782 shares during the period. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 108.7% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,949,000 after acquiring an additional 6,453 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $6,144,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,730,000 after acquiring an additional 52,862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unified Investment Management bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $503,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

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

CME Group Stock Down 0.4 %

CME Group stock opened at $258.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $263.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $242.80 and a 200-day moving average of $232.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

CME Group announced 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 repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.