MML Investors Services LLC Has $5.42 Million Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 31.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,643 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,952,273,000 after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,946,717,000 after buying an additional 104,697 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $1,107,389,000. FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $947,821,000 after acquiring an additional 61,908 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $871,063,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $263.27 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. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $258.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $241.50. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $273.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. As a group, analysts predict 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $248.93.

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.