CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stock Holdings Increased by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 493,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,207 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $114,615,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Generali Investments Management Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $1,134,000. Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in CME Group by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,104,000 after buying an additional 1,199 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 52,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 106.6% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,952,000 after acquiring an additional 24,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $819,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 boosted their price target on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $265.47 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $267.91. The stock has a market cap of $95.66 billion, a PE ratio of 27.45, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $245.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $233.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 often a sign that the company’s leadership 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.