New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Reduces Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,979,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Meyer Handelman Co. bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,144,000. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,730,000 after purchasing an additional 52,862 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,823,964,000 after acquiring an additional 142,692 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 58.4% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 613,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,441,000 after buying an additional 226,306 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CME. Oppenheimer boosted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $234.13.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $245.48 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $253.53. The stock has a market cap of $88.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.81, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $235.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $225.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be 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 is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.71%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.