Verity Asset Management Inc. Purchases 214 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Verity Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 214 shares during the quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CME. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in CME Group by 1.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 142,692 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 17.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,707,000 after purchasing an additional 380,071 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 70.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 11.9% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,230,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $492,072,000 after buying an additional 237,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,981,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $437,320,000 after buying an additional 26,642 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Up 1.7 %

CME opened at $240.65 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $234.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.78. The firm has a market cap of $86.72 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.57. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $249.02. 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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $5.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Piper Sandler raised 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.27.

CME Group 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.