American Century Companies Inc. Has $12.18 Million Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,432 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,587 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $12,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 108.7% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 6,453 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $6,144,000. Unified Investment Management acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $503,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in CME Group by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc grew its stake in CME Group by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $75,730,000 after acquiring an additional 52,862 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Bank of America raised their price target on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $241.53.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, 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 90 days, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Down 5.2 %

Shares of CME Group stock traded down $13.90 on Friday, hitting $254.46. 5,818,885 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,079,247. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $252.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $236.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.70 billion, a PE ratio of 26.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $272.87.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.