Triad Wealth Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 1,253 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,435,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $565,671,000 after acquiring an additional 996,498 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP increased its position in shares of CME Group by 698.0% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 544,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,384,000 after acquiring an additional 476,019 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 17.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $554,707,000 after acquiring an additional 380,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at about $79,692,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $254.48 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $258.78. The company has a 50 day moving average of $239.35 and a 200-day moving average of $230.06. The company has a market cap of $91.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. On average, equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,076 shares of company stock worth $4,271,496 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company 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.