Wealth Alliance Buys Shares of 954 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Wealth Alliance bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $610,482,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of CME Group by 31.5% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $972,863,000 after buying an additional 1,163,103 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 90.0% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,218,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,771,000 after buying an additional 577,293 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 992.8% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 623,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $119,508,000 after buying an additional 566,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 71.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,307,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $219,896,000 after buying an additional 543,507 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $229.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $215.70.

CME Group Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $213.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $214.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $175.73 and a 12-month high of $223.80. The firm has a market cap of $76.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.02, a PEG ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 57.83%. The company’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 51.86%.

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.