M&T Bank Corp Raises Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 10.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 96,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,968 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in CME Group were worth $21,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 188.4% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 62.2% in the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 66.1% during the second quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total transaction of $163,610.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,028 shares of company stock worth $1,811,681 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. Citigroup raised their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $226.20.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $239.19 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $249.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $228.20 and a 200-day moving average of $213.16. The firm has a market cap of $86.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.15, a P/E/G ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.56.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.25 earnings per share. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current year.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $5.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.37%.

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.