Madison Investment Advisors LLC Makes New $24.80 Million Investment in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought 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 bought 106,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,798,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $871,063,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in 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. Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 69.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $565,671,000 after purchasing an additional 996,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in CME Group by 70.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,076 shares of company stock worth $4,271,496 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $256.72 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $241.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.77. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $263.65. The company has a market cap of $92.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. As a group, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.71%.

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.