Sterling Capital Management LLC Sells 556 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sterling Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 33.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 556 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 8.4% in the fourth 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 raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CME. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $263.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America boosted their price target on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded 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 research report on Monday, March 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $247.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $262.53 on Monday. 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 twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $273.42. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $257.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $240.65. The firm has a market cap of $94.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

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.