Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC Increases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC increased its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meyer Handelman Co. bought a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,144,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in CME Group by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc grew its position in CME Group by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 326,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,730,000 after purchasing an additional 52,862 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in CME Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,823,964,000 after purchasing an additional 142,692 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in CME Group by 58.4% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 613,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,441,000 after purchasing an additional 226,306 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $234.07.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5 %

CME opened at $250.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $253.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $235.74 and its 200 day moving average is $225.08. The stock has a market cap of $90.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.