Cerity Partners LLC Raises Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 271.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 21,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,777 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RB Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.4% during the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 1,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the first quarter worth about $1,709,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 5.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $829,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its holdings in CME Group by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 25,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,001,000 after purchasing an additional 2,181 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $229.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $215.70.

CME Group Stock Up 0.1 %

CME stock opened at $206.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $175.73 and a one year high of $223.80. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $214.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.65.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.83% and a return on equity of 12.32%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.92 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.