Beacon Financial Group Purchases Shares of 1,258 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Beacon Financial Group acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 62.2% during 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 buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 9.3% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 51,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,309,000 after acquiring an additional 4,354 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 71,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,677,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust boosted its stake in CME Group by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 3,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its position in CME Group by 85.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 36,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,008,000 after purchasing an additional 16,774 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Barclays increased their target price on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.27.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $248.96 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $253.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $224.91. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 EPS for the current year.

CME Group announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program 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 buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.37%.

CME Group Company 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.