880 Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Bought by Whitener Capital Management Inc.

Whitener Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 70.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,038,676,000 after acquiring an additional 537,758 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 21,465.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 485,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,072,070,000 after acquiring an additional 483,618 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 380,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $79,692,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Bank of America lifted their target price on CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on CME Group in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They set a “hold” rating and a $221.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.27.

CME Group Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $232.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $83.86 billion, a PE ratio of 24.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $233.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $219.51. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $249.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.25 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $5.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total value of $1,019,880.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,131,291.92. This represents a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About CME Group

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.