Sanders Morris Harris LLC Purchases Shares of 864 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sanders Morris Harris LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth $6,144,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 58.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 226,306 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 149.4% during the 2nd quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 23,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,671,000 after buying an additional 14,234 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 283,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in CME Group by 41.8% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,028,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,432,000 after purchasing an additional 303,169 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America increased their target price on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.27.

CME Group Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $1.51 during trading on Thursday, reaching $229.39. The stock had a trading volume of 69,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,879,754. The stock has a market cap of $82.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.12, a PEG ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.56. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $249.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $232.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.36.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released 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 period last year, the business posted $2.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total transaction of $1,019,880.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,131,291.92. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.