CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Position Boosted by Pinebridge Investments L.P.

Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 22.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 193,973 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 35,572 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. owned approximately 0.05% of CME Group worth $45,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 69.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $565,671,000 after acquiring an additional 996,498 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $247.47.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $265.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $95.70 billion, a PE ratio of 27.46, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company's 50 day moving average price is $257.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $241.07. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $273.42.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.71%.

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.

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