Fortitude Family Office LLC Buys 83 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 120.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $35,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 188.4% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth $36,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 62.2% in the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. 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. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $237.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.53.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $229.20 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $232.56 and a 200-day moving average of $218.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $249.02. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

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

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total transaction of $226,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,403,279.44. The trade was a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,587,935.64. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 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.