Sunbelt Securities Inc. Raises Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at $264,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 700.0% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 70,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,862,000 after buying an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $313,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 82.0% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup increased their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $226.20.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 5.38 % 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,028 shares of company stock valued at $1,811,681. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $237.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $85.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.94, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $229.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $213.79. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $249.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. 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 business earned $2.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $5.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About CME Group

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.