Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 179 shares during the quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $964,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $7,952,273,000 after buying an additional 326,623 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $1,107,389,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter worth $871,063,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,054,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $710,143,000 after purchasing an additional 96,301 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. 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 report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.93.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $262.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $94.49 billion, a PE ratio of 27.12, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $235.75. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $267.91.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. On average, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is an increase 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 approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.