ICW Investment Advisors LLC Invests $266,000 in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

ICW Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 570.6% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 188.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $263.35 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $246.50 and its 200-day moving average is $234.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $267.91.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced 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 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. Equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.90%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 51.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,686,980. The trade was a 31.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note 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. Citigroup downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.93.

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.