AIA Group Ltd Sells 8,534 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

AIA Group Ltd lessened its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 37.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,534 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 202.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 564,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,983,000 after acquiring an additional 377,414 shares during the last quarter. Skba Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Skba Capital Management LLC now owns 73,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,113,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 26,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,198,000 after purchasing an additional 4,476 shares in the last quarter. IPG Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,530,000. Finally, RWA Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in CME Group by 106.9% in the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $708,000 after buying an additional 1,576 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $265.29 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $95.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.43, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $250.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $236.21. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $267.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.