CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Bought by First Horizon Advisors Inc.

First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in CME Group by 55.4% in the 4th quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $206,000. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 8,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,750,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, April 5th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.80.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $207.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.73 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The company has a market cap of $74.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $214.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $211.64.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.33%.

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.