Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Invests $532,000 in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 2,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $532,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 97,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,729,000 after purchasing an additional 16,264 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 29.8% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 279,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,807,000 after purchasing an additional 64,045 shares during the period. Generali Investments Management Co LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,134,000. Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,104,000 after acquiring an additional 1,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 52,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $263.35 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $246.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $234.07. 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 market cap of $94.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $267.91.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.93.

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.