CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Sold by Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lessened its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 891,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 28,119 shares during the period. CME Group comprises 0.9% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $206,989,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,108,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,560,000 after buying an additional 37,911 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 3.3% during the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 4,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in CME Group by 23.9% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,709,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370 shares during the period. PDT Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 29.7% in the 3rd quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 77,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,168,000 after purchasing an additional 17,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 2,602.8% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 85,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,857,000 after buying an additional 82,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $262.22 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $267.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $249.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $235.75. 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 $94.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.71%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the 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 $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Four 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

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.