Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 326,623 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of CME Group worth $7,952,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its position in CME Group by 69.2% in 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. Egerton Capital UK LLP purchased a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $223,967,000. Finally, Canoe Financial LP boosted its stake in CME Group by 698.0% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 544,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,384,000 after buying an additional 476,019 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on CME shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $263.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $246.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $234.35. The company has a market capitalization of $94.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $267.91.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

CME Group announced that its board has approved a stock 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 purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.