Convergence Investment Partners LLC Buys 717 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Convergence Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 51,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,309,000 after purchasing an additional 4,354 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its holdings in CME Group by 20.0% during the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 1,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in CME Group by 14.3% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 197,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,594,000 after buying an additional 24,643 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in CME Group by 141.3% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,019,000 after buying an additional 5,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leo Wealth LLC bought a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $260,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” 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 report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

CME Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of CME opened at $250.75 on Thursday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $253.53. The firm has a market cap of $90.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 6.75 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s fifty day moving average is $236.62 and its 200-day moving average is $226.85.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group 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.