CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Purchased by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA raised its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 1.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 17.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,707,000 after purchasing an additional 380,071 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 70.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in CME Group by 11.9% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,230,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $492,072,000 after purchasing an additional 237,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,981,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $437,320,000 after buying an additional 26,642 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $229.27.

CME Group Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $244.83 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $235.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $223.63. The company has a market capitalization of $88.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.57. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $249.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication 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.