Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Has $15.16 Million Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,111 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in CME Group were worth $15,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CME. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $7,952,273,000 after acquiring an additional 326,623 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.8% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $871,063,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 380,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 996,498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $262.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $234.65. 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 one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $267.91.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a share 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 buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of 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, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.