Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 237 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 237 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $6,144,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 58.4% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 613,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,441,000 after buying an additional 226,306 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,823,964,000 after acquiring an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 149.4% during the second quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 23,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,671,000 after purchasing an additional 14,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,826,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $403,017,000 after buying an additional 283,171 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,652,298. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total transaction of $226,960.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,403,279.44. This trade represents a 8.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America lifted their price target on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “hold” rating and a $221.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.27.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $232.71 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $249.02. The company has a market cap of $83.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $233.15 and a 200-day moving average of $219.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $5.80 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. 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.