Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Lowers Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,623 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,766 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS's holdings in CME Group were worth $17,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in CME Group by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $565,671,000 after purchasing an additional 996,498 shares in the last quarter. Egerton Capital UK LLP purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $223,967,000. Finally, Canoe Financial LP grew its position in shares of CME Group by 698.0% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 544,219 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $126,384,000 after buying an additional 476,019 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $238.93.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,046 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded down $0.88 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $262.06. The company had a trading volume of 2,584,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,928,388. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $267.91. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $247.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $234.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $94.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. CME Group's payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are 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.