CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Sold by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,670 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $11,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,823,964,000 after acquiring an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $871,063,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $554,707,000 after acquiring an additional 380,071 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 69.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $565,671,000 after acquiring an additional 996,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 70.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 17,076 shares of company stock worth $4,271,496 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on CME. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their price objective 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. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.93.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $262.28 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.12, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $240.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $231.22. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $262.51.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. Equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan 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 repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 51.71%.

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.