Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 2.2% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 68,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,662,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.7% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 2,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth $216,000. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 15,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,051,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of CME Group by 27.1% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 3,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after acquiring an additional 653 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:CME traded up $0.17 on Friday, reaching $207.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,065,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,130. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $214.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.56. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $175.73 and a 12-month high of $223.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $74.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $1.15 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price target (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $217.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.