Waverly Advisors LLC Increases Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Waverly Advisors LLC increased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 32.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,827 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,637 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $2,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,952,273,000 after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,946,717,000 after purchasing an additional 104,697 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $947,821,000 after purchasing an additional 61,908 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.56, for a total value of $817,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,471,824. This trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This trade represents a 12.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,384 shares of company stock valued at $7,531,053 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America increased their price target on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $256.80.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $283.60. 420,060 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,184,881. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $286.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.25, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $249.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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 the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.30%.

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.