Syntax Research Inc. Trims Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Syntax Research Inc. cut its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 82.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,004 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 9,509 shares during the period. Syntax Research Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its position in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 65,264 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 157,769 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,639,000 after buying an additional 26,790 shares during the period. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $309,000. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $3,620,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CME. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James raised CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $238.93.

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Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $262.22. 1,736,117 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,049,091. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $249.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $235.63. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $267.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $94.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Investors 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 1.91%. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.