Everence Capital Management Inc. Has $1.87 Million Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Everence Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 28.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,150 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 58.4% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 613,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,441,000 after purchasing an additional 226,306 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 149.4% in the 2nd quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 23,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,671,000 after buying an additional 14,234 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,826,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $403,017,000 after buying an additional 283,171 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,028,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,432,000 after buying an additional 303,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 204,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,065,000 after buying an additional 58,037 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on CME shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total value of $226,960.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,403,279.44. This represents a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $232.50 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $232.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $217.18. 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 $83.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.25 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $5.80 dividend. This is a positive change 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 currently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.