CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Shares Sold by Haverford Trust Co

Haverford Trust Co trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 70,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,533 shares during the quarter. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in CME Group were worth $16,273,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 1,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. TFC Financial Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its position in CME Group by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 2,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CME. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upped their target price on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Raymond James raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.93.

CME Group Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $263.35 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $94.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $267.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $246.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $234.35.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company 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.