Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV Has $1.71 Million Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV cut its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 609 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up 1.7% of Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group by 570.6% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 188.4% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $258.68 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $93.22 billion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $242.80 and its 200-day moving average is $232.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $263.65.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. Sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group announced that its board has approved 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 repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.93.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,076 shares of company stock worth $4,271,496 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group 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.