Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Acquires 1,111 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,264 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,111 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE's holdings in CME Group were worth $15,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after acquiring an additional 326,623 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,823,964,000 after buying an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $871,063,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 17.8% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 996,498 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on 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 downgraded shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $238.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock traded up $0.28 during trading on Thursday, hitting $263.00. 758,304 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,930,703. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $267.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $248.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $235.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.20, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its 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%. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.71%.

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

CME Group Company 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.