CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Acquired by Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 475.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,916 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 107.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,029,000 after acquiring an additional 777,571 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth $164,648,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,830,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $764,725,000 after acquiring an additional 528,358 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.65.

CME Group Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $308.57 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $305.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $283.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $110.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.26. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $248.53 and a 12-month high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.59%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.