PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 155,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,974 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $36,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Summit Global Investments lifted its holdings in CME Group by 62.0% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 5.5% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 24,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,323,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249 shares in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 500.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 5,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,212,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, YCG LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 5.9% during the third quarter. YCG LLC now owns 128,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,365,000 after purchasing an additional 7,209 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 3,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.47, for a total value of $997,872.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,774,211.62. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,076 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,496 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $254.57 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $258.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.74 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.85.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 51.71%.

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

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.