Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Purchases 19,533 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 86,941 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 19,533 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings in CME Group were worth $20,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in CME Group by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,823,964,000 after acquiring an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 17.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $554,707,000 after acquiring an additional 380,071 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 70.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $544,157,000 after buying an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in CME Group by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,230,100 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $492,072,000 after buying an additional 237,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,981,961 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $437,320,000 after buying an additional 26,642 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $236.13.

CME Group Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $2.90 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $250.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,171,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,827,433. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $253.53. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $236.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $226.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 6.75 and a beta of 0.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.57%.

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

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.