T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Has $5.97 Million Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 25,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,031 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 1,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $256.80.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 1.2 %

CME opened at $266.30 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $95.96 billion, a PE ratio of 27.54, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $258.77 and a 200-day moving average of $242.09. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $273.42.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.30%.

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.