CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Bought by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 630,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,737 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned about 0.17% of CME Group worth $157,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Catalina Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $207,000. Radnor Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth about $209,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 4.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 419,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,570,000 after buying an additional 17,508 shares during the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP increased its holdings in CME Group by 116.8% in the 3rd quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, Consolidated Planning Corp purchased a new position in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,076 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,496 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their price target on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.50.

CME Group Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of CME stock opened at $254.57 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $258.78. The company has a market cap of $91.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.55.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 51.71%.

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.