Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Boosts Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 89.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 2.30% of CME Group worth $1,923,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 108.7% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 6,453 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,144,000. Unified Investment Management acquired a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $503,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in shares of CME Group by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CME. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given 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 presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $247.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % 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 worth $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $265.56 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $273.42. 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 $95.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $257.73 and a 200-day moving average of $241.07.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. On average, 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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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