CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Acquired by Moors & Cabot Inc.

Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 27,489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter worth $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 570.6% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its position in CME Group by 188.4% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in CME Group by 120.3% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. Oppenheimer raised their price target on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

CME Group Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of CME stock opened at $260.43 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $241.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.60. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $263.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.71%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,076 shares of company stock worth $4,271,496 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.