LGT Group Foundation Has $447,000 Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

LGT Group Foundation lowered its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 85 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in CME Group were worth $447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,823,964,000 after buying an additional 142,692 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 17.8% during the 3rd 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 period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 69.2% during the 4th 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after buying an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of CME Group by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,230,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,072,000 after buying an additional 237,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.2 %

CME Group stock opened at $256.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $257.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $238.80 and a 200-day moving average of $229.58.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of 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 price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

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.