Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 77 shares during the quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 72,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,089,000 after purchasing an additional 27,332 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in CME Group by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 71,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,677,000 after buying an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 752.9% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after buying an additional 2,048 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 9.7% in the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 3,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $796,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 7,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,574,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $262.06 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $267.91. The business’s 50 day moving average is $247.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $234.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,686,980. This trade represents a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.