Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Has $85.06 Million Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 218.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 357,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 245,040 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $85,057,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $6,144,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 58.4% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 613,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,441,000 after buying an additional 226,306 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in CME Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,284,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,823,964,000 after acquiring an additional 142,692 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in CME Group by 41.8% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,028,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,432,000 after acquiring an additional 303,169 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in CME Group by 18.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,826,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $403,017,000 after acquiring an additional 283,171 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on CME shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Redburn Atlantic lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $229.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $312,062.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,652,298. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total value of $226,960.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,403,279.44. This represents a 8.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $232.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $233.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $220.35. The stock has a market cap of $83.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.42, a P/E/G ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.56. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $249.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $5.80 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.