CoreCap Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $275,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Power Corp of Canada acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the first quarter worth $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth $25,000. MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 65.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on CME. Argus boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.30.

CME Group Stock Up 1.3 %

CME Group stock opened at $215.60 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $175.73 and a twelve month high of $223.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $211.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $210.82. The company has a market capitalization of $77.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.10. CME Group had a net margin of 57.83% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.63 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.86%.

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.