KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys Shares of 121,687 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 121,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,859,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in CME Group by 9.4% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in CME Group by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 22,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,037,000 after purchasing an additional 7,214 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 27.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 46,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,262,000 after purchasing an additional 9,905 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 91,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,667,000 after acquiring an additional 7,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leelyn Smith LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 11,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on CME. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.93.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $263.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $94.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $267.91. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $246.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $234.22.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. Research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 51.71%.

CME Group declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.