OFI Invest Asset Management Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $537,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Summit Global Investments raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 24,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,323,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 500.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 5,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,212,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, YCG LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. YCG LLC now owns 128,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,365,000 after purchasing an additional 7,209 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Piper Sandler raised 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. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $235.50.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This trade represents 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 17,076 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,496 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $254.57 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s fifty day moving average is $240.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.85. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $258.78.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

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

About CME Group

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.