865 Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Acquired by FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 865 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth $313,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 47,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 23.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $210,328,000 after acquiring an additional 203,251 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in CME Group by 16.0% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $937,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on CME Group in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total value of $1,019,880.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,131,291.92. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total value of $226,960.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,403,279.44. This represents a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $232.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $249.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $233.15 and a 200-day moving average of $219.51. The company has a market cap of $83.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.56.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.25 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program 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 reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Company 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.