NewEdge Advisors LLC Purchases 2,745 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,745 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $12,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,952,273,000 after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,717,000 after buying an additional 104,697 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,107,389,000. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $947,821,000 after acquiring an additional 61,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $871,063,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $263.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $247.47.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $262.53 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $273.42. The company has a market cap of $94.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $256.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $240.16.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 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.