Lantz Financial LLC Trims Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Lantz Financial LLC decreased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 456 shares during the quarter. Lantz Financial LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 188.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 62.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 51.6% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

CME Group Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $234.68 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $234.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.05. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $249.02. The company has a market cap of $84.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.56.

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. The business 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 for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

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

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.