Korea Investment CORP Sells 931 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Korea Investment CORP lowered its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 215,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 931 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.06% of CME Group worth $50,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 570.6% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 188.4% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CME. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered 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 report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $261.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $94.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.08, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $267.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $249.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $235.32.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

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

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.