CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Position Raised by Alpha Cubed Investments LLC

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 219,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,029 shares during the period. CME Group comprises approximately 2.6% of Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $46,142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 966.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Atticus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CME. Barclays raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America raised 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $217.80.

CME Group Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of CME traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $209.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,394,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,778,121. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $214.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.49. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.73 and a 1 year high of $223.80.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

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.