CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Sold by Zuckerman Investment Group LLC

Zuckerman Investment Group LLC lessened its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 52.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 980 shares during the quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 108.7% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,949,000 after buying an additional 6,453 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,144,000. Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $503,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,730,000 after acquiring an additional 52,862 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $254.13 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $254.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $238.51. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $273.42. The company has a market cap of $91.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.28, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.25 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on CME Group from $263.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $246.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About CME Group

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.