West Family Investments Inc. Has $486,000 Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 70.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 69.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $565,671,000 after acquiring an additional 996,498 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP raised its position in shares of CME Group by 698.0% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 544,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,384,000 after acquiring an additional 476,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 17.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,707,000 after acquiring an additional 380,071 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,774,211.62. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,076 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,496 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $254.04 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $258.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $91.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $239.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its 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 return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.50.

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.