Meyer Handelman Co. Purchases 9,288 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Meyer Handelman Co. grew its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 80,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,288 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $22,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $482,000. Birch Financial Group LLC bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its position in CME Group by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 2,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $675,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in CME Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 5,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,561,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,597.04. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CME. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Bank of America boosted their target price on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.06.

CME Group Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of CME stock opened at $295.35 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $248.53 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $105.92 billion, a PE ratio of 26.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $303.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $282.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.