Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC Has $8.43 Million Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC boosted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 36,292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $8,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 11,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,783,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust boosted its stake in CME Group by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 3,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $814,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 780,547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $181,266,000 after purchasing an additional 35,857 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CME shares. TD Cowen started coverage on CME Group in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.27.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $232.71 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $233.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $220.09. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $249.02. The company has a market cap of $83.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.25 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $5.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total value of $1,019,880.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,131,291.92. This trade represents a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.