Guggenheim Capital LLC Purchases 1,283 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,283 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,320,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in CME Group by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 96,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,198,000 after buying an additional 8,968 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 52.4% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth about $7,615,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 46,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 70.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CME shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley raised CME Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $301.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upped their price target on CME Group from $263.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $247.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 21,873 shares in the company, valued at $5,686,980. The trade was a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,774,211.62. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $262.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $257.19 and a 200-day moving average of $240.42. The company has a market cap of $94.60 billion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $273.42.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.71%.

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.