MONECO Advisors LLC Buys New Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

MONECO Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 1.7% in the third quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Greystone Financial Group LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $691,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. West Michigan Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.9% in the third quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $187.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Argus increased their target price on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays increased their target price on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $217.80.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Monday, hitting $197.10. 888,934 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,799,730. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $177.97 and a 1 year high of $223.80. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $209.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.52.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. CME Group’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total transaction of $586,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,399,936.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total transaction of $586,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,399,936.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,290 shares of company stock worth $11,393,700 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.