Financial Counselors Inc. Has $879,000 Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Financial Counselors Inc. decreased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 17.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 813 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $879,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 570.6% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 188.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CME. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. 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. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.93.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of CME opened at $261.85 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $249.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $235.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.08, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $267.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group 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.