CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Bought by Pittenger & Anderson Inc.

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 70,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,123 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $19,307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in CME Group by 8.9% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,106,000 after buying an additional 5,773 shares during the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 86.0% during the third quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,896,000 after buying an additional 13,512 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 85.2% during the third quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,302,000 after buying an additional 3,919 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 345.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,965,000 after buying an additional 184,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 78.8% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,588,000 after buying an additional 5,855 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $289.54 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $257.17 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $104.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $303.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $286.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.37%.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.