Greystone Financial Group LLC Acquires 93 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Greystone Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 141.3% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 5,359 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company bought a new position in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $209,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,460,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Ridge Investment Management lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management now owns 123,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,197,000 after acquiring an additional 54,238 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $248.88 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $89.69 billion, a PE ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 6.83 and a beta of 0.57. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $253.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $237.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $227.36.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (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%. Analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.57%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. 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 report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.13.

About CME Group

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.