Mach 1 Financial Group LLC Takes $762,000 Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Mach 1 Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $762,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 worth $972,863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,103 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $113,772,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth approximately $86,424,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 31.7% in 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. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 6.7% in 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 last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Argus upped 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.80.

CME Group Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $0.02 on Tuesday, hitting $209.64. 1,394,434 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,778,121. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.73 and a 52 week high of $223.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.69. The company has a market cap of $75.47 billion, a PE ratio of 23.85, a PEG ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.49.

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. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.33%.

About CME Group

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.