Zions Bancorporation N.A. Has $468,000 Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 31.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $468,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 1,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network increased its position in CME Group by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 2,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group 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 sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $262.72 on Thursday. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $267.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $248.47 and a 200-day moving average of $235.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its 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 return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.