Captrust Financial Advisors Increases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 35.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,377 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors' holdings in CME Group were worth $3,867,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 419,532 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $92,570,000 after acquiring an additional 17,508 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 30,170 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,000,000 after buying an additional 1,557 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 120.3% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 225.6% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,335 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CME. Raymond James raised CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $223.00 to $211.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong 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 $256.80.

CME Group Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ:CME traded down $2.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $268.34. The company had a trading volume of 3,001,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,172,771. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $286.48. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $264.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. 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 (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.50 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.30%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,726 shares of company stock worth $8,975,813 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.