4,776 Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME Purchased by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Caldwell Trust Co boosted its holdings in CME Group by 116.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $302.55 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $246.68 and a 1-year high of $309.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $281.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Argus decreased their target price on CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.53.

CME Group 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.