Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC Purchases 285 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 285 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,490,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 2,052 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,728,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WealthShield Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 15,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,642,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were 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 approximately $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $247.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $89.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $253.53.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CME. Barclays raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer lifted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

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.