Tower Wealth Partners Inc. Acquires 752 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Tower Wealth Partners Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 67.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Summit Global Investments raised its holdings in CME Group by 62.0% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 24,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,323,000 after buying an additional 1,249 shares in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its holdings in CME Group by 500.0% during the third quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in CME Group by 1.2% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 5,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,212,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, YCG LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 5.9% in the third quarter. YCG LLC now owns 128,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,365,000 after acquiring an additional 7,209 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.50.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value 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 $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,076 shares of company stock worth $4,271,496. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $254.57 on Monday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $240.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.85. 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About CME Group

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.