Baird Financial Group Inc. Has $33.81 Million Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Baird Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME – Get Rating) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,108 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $33,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in CME Group by 0.3% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 15,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,243,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. KC Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 1.7% during the first quarter. KC Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Wade G W & Inc. raised its holdings in CME Group by 4.2% during the second quarter. Wade G W & Inc. now owns 1,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its holdings in CME Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 4,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PAX Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC now owns 3,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $665,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on CME Group from $214.29 to $210.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on CME Group from $270.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on CME Group from $218.00 to $213.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $219.83.

CME Group Stock Up 3.1 %

CME stock opened at $185.37 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $166.54 and a twelve month high of $251.99. The company has a market cap of $66.68 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.84. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 10.43% and a net margin of 53.61%. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

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

CME Group Profile

(Get Rating)

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.