CME Group Inc. $CME Stock: Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Position

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 13.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,574 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Community Trust NA bought a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Financial Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 471.4% during the 3rd quarter. Compass Financial Management LLC now owns 120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CME Group from $337.00 to $359.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $281.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $292.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 10,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.15, for a total transaction of $3,075,606.85. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 21,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,555,232.30. The trade was a 31.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel Kaye sold 532 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.17, for a total transaction of $161,818.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,311,885.21. The trade was a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 33,511 shares of company stock valued at $9,714,580 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of CME opened at $315.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $112.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.15. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $3.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.99 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 63.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 11th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 11th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.66%.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group operates a global marketplace for derivatives and other financial products. Through its exchanges—CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX—it offers futures and options contracts tied to interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. The company also provides clearing and settlement services, market data and related products. Its electronic trading platform, CME Globex, supports access to its markets by participants around the world, alongside its open-outcry and privately negotiated trading services.