Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 142,692 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 142,692 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,823,964,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 188.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 66.1% during the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 515.2% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick sold 754 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.99, for a total value of $163,610.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,261 shares in the company, valued at $2,877,504.39. The trade was a 5.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,028 shares of company stock worth $1,811,681. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $226.20.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $239.19 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $249.02. The company has a market cap of $86.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $213.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current year.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program 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 reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.37%.

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.