Horizon Investments LLC Increases Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Horizon Investments LLC increased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 9.6% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,545,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after buying an additional 559 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth about $5,569,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 17.3% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 152,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,713,000 after acquiring an additional 22,570 shares during the period. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 31.0% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CME. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at $5,686,980. The trade was a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of CME opened at $265.47 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $245.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.51. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $267.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. 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 1.88%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.71%.

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

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.