Sivia Capital Partners LLC Invests $219,000 in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. now owns 36,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,363,000 after buying an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC now owns 44,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,385,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $642,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 34,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,026,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 8,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,070,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,275 shares in the company, valued at $1,652,298. This represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.27.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock traded up $0.69 on Monday, hitting $229.89. 921,345 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,983,716. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $249.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $232.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.87. The company has a market cap of $82.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The company’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.25 earnings per share. Analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.37%.

About CME Group

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.