Cullen Investment Group LTD. Buys 430 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 26,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up 0.9% of Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $6,050,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 188.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 120.3% during the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 62.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 52.4% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $229.45 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $82.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $249.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $232.68 and a 200-day moving average of $219.11.

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

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $5.80 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.37%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total value of $1,019,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,053 shares in the company, valued at $6,131,291.92. This trade represents a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,652,298. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.27.

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.