CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Sold by Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC

Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 178 shares during the period. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $661,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 155,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,173,000 after purchasing an additional 2,974 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in CME Group by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 146,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,974,000 after purchasing an additional 36,484 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its position in CME Group by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 630,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,391,000 after purchasing an additional 60,737 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 17,076 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,496. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.50.

CME Group Trading Up 0.2 %

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

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

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in 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 often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This is a boost 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 is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.