CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Position Raised by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in CME Group were worth $7,174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 5,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,201,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 108.7% during the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,949,000 after acquiring an additional 6,453 shares in the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 40,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,358,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 10,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its holdings in CME Group by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 2,052 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CME. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays raised their target price on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.13.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 1.1 %

CME stock opened at $247.99 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $253.53. The company has a market cap of $89.37 billion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $237.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $228.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership 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.