2,359 Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Purchased by Aspire Growth Partners LLC

Aspire Growth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $548,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alaethes Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 9,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,153,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co raised its position in shares of CME Group by 83.2% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 2,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $93,000. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 128.6% in the 4th quarter. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd now owns 6,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 27,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keel Point LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 1,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total transaction of $271,280.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $790,781.20. The trade was a 25.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,076 shares of company stock worth $7,670,976 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CME. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $256.80.

CME Group Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $280.45 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $261.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $243.61. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $282.10. The company has a market cap of $101.06 billion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 50.30%.

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.