Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Grows Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in CME Group by 31.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $972,863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,103 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $113,772,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at about $86,424,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 31.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,605,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,395,000 after purchasing an additional 386,730 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 6.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,465,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $693,847,000 after purchasing an additional 217,101 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.2 %

CME Group stock traded up $0.35 during trading on Monday, reaching $208.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,722,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,783,085. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.66, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $175.73 and a 12-month high of $223.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $213.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.42 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $217.80.

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.