California State Teachers Retirement System Boosts Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 594,592 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,101 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.17% of CME Group worth $138,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $871,063,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 70.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $544,157,000 after buying an additional 1,003,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 69.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James upgraded shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup cut shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $256.80.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total transaction of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,076 shares of company stock worth $7,670,976 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.0 %

CME traded up $0.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $277.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,047,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,161,586. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.66, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $279.81. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $260.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $242.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. CME Group's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.30%.

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.