First Bank & Trust Acquires New Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

First Bank & Trust bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 4,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,325,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi raised its holdings in CME Group by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $548,150,000 after purchasing an additional 385,225 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in CME Group by 8.9% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,106,000 after purchasing an additional 5,773 shares in the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 86.0% during the third quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,896,000 after purchasing an additional 13,512 shares during the period. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 85.2% during the third quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 3,919 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Financial Group LLC increased its position in CME Group by 310.2% in the second quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $839,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $293.93 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $301.97 and its 200 day moving average is $281.25. The company has a market cap of $105.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.59%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.06.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.