Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Buys 482 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 66,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $15,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 51,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,309,000 after acquiring an additional 4,354 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $637,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer boosted 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. Citigroup cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $234.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of CME opened at $245.48 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $253.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $235.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.00. The stock has a market cap of $88.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.81, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued 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 return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.