Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 1.8% during 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 buying an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 11.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,038,676,000 after acquiring an additional 537,758 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in CME Group by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,371,000 after acquiring an additional 176,004 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 17.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 380,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,652,298. This represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $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 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $227.88 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $249.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $82.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a PEG ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $232.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $219.36.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $5.80 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.37%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group 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.