New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 124,800 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 25.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 615,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 124,800 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in CME Group were worth $142,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 570.6% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 188.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 120.3% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CME. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer increased their price target 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. boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $234.13.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0 %

CME Group stock opened at $247.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $236.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $253.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 EPS for the current year.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.37%.

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.