Kentucky Retirement Systems Increases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Kentucky Retirement Systems boosted its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME – Get Rating) by 5.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,460 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in CME Group were worth $4,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CME. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.6% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 360,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,814,000 after acquiring an additional 15,818 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.2% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $851,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 13.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 334,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,192,000 after acquiring an additional 39,500 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.7% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 6,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,371,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keebeck Alpha LP raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 28.2% during the third quarter. Keebeck Alpha LP now owns 2,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. 85.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $270.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $218.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $161.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.83.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $185.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $66.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.84. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $166.54 and a twelve month high of $251.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.02. CME Group had a net margin of 53.61% and a return on equity of 10.43%. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 8.46 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. CME Group’s payout ratio is 59.54%.

CME Group Company Profile

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CME Group, Inc operates a derivatives marketplace, which offers a range of futures and options products for risk management. Its exchanges offer a range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange (FX), energy, agricultural commodities and metals.