First United Bank & Trust Has $814,000 Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

First United Bank & Trust boosted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the quarter. First United Bank & Trust’s holdings in CME Group were worth $814,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,823,964,000 after purchasing an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,038,676,000 after purchasing an additional 537,758 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in CME Group by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,371,000 after purchasing an additional 176,004 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $554,707,000 after buying an additional 380,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 70.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after buying an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $232.71 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $233.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $220.09. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $249.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.56.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.25 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $5.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. Barclays increased their price objective on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.27.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $312,062.88. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares in the company, valued at $1,652,298. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.