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 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $548,000.

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

CME Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of CME opened at $280.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock 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. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $282.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $261.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $243.61.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CME shares. 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 research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.28, for a total transaction of $271,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $790,781.20. This represents a 25.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,076 shares of company stock valued at $7,670,976. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.