4,126 Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Bought by Diversify Advisory Services LLC

Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $946,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. purchased a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $313,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 47,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $200,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total transaction of $226,960.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,403,279.44. The trade was a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,652,298. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen started coverage on CME Group in a report on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $221.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.27.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $232.71 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $233.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.09. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $249.02. The firm has a market cap of $83.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.2 EPS for the current year.

CME Group declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

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.