MONECO Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 1,073 CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

MONECO Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in CME Group by 31.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $972,863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,103 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $113,772,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $86,424,000. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 31.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,605,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $321,395,000 after purchasing an additional 386,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 6.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,465,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $693,847,000 after purchasing an additional 217,101 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $207.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $74.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.64. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $175.73 and a 1-year high of $223.80.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus lifted 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. Bank of America increased their price objective on CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $187.00 price target (up previously from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $217.80.

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.