Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Boosts Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,111 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in CME Group were worth $15,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 108.7% during the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,949,000 after acquiring an additional 6,453 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $6,144,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,730,000 after buying an additional 52,862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $503,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Down 0.2 %

CME Group stock opened at $262.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $94.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $267.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $247.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $234.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01.

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

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 positive change 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 presently 51.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,686,980. The trade was a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,076 shares of company stock valued at $6,871,496 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on CME. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.93.

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.