Kentucky Retirement Systems Reduces Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 341 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in CME Group were worth $5,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Boston Financial Mangement LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 287,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,707,000 after purchasing an additional 4,880 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 133,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,907,000 after buying an additional 6,451 shares in the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,858,000. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 260.6% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 85,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,765,000 after buying an additional 61,510 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were 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 owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 1.0 %

CME opened at $248.32 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $253.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $236.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $89.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 0.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.45 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.57%.

CME Group announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase 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 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.