Verus Capital Partners LLC Raises Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Verus Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 70.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,119 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP increased its position in shares of CME Group by 698.0% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 544,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,384,000 after purchasing an additional 476,019 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $554,707,000 after purchasing an additional 380,071 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth $79,692,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in CME Group by 41.8% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,028,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,432,000 after buying an additional 303,169 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $249.85 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $238.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $228.59. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $253.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $90.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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 issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.13.

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.