Ellevest Inc. Buys 746 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Ellevest Inc. raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 72.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the quarter. Ellevest Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 570.6% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 120.3% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.80.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total value of $271,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,915 shares in the company, valued at $790,781.20. This trade represents a 25.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total value of $1,304,836.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,339,164.96. This represents a 35.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,726 shares of company stock worth $8,975,813. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $284.35 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $264.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.55. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $286.48. The company has a market cap of $102.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.30%.

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.