CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Position Raised by Keel Point LLC

Keel Point LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,946,717,000 after purchasing an additional 104,697 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $947,821,000 after buying an additional 61,908 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $256.80.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $280.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $282.10. The company has a market cap of $101.06 billion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $261.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $243.61.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.30%.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,076 shares of company stock worth $7,670,976. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.