Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 86.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,221 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. MONECO Advisors LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 82.6% during the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 1,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in CME Group by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $521,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc increased its position in CME Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 77,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,571 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its position in CME Group by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 101,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,474,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redmond Asset Management LLC increased its position in CME Group by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 13,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,197,000 after acquiring an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $248.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $253.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $237.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $227.53. The stock has a market cap of $89.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.13.

About CME Group

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.