Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $5.89 Million Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,886,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $605,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.9% in the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC increased its position in CME Group by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America increased their price objective on CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $187.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $217.80.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $208.00. 1,722,488 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,783,085. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.73 and a 1 year high of $223.80. The company has a market cap of $74.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $213.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $1.15 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

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.