Sapient Capital LLC Sells 234 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Sapient Capital LLC decreased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 234 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gold Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in CME Group during the third quarter worth $25,000. Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 966.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $209.64. The stock had a trading volume of 1,394,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,778,121. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.73 and a 52 week high of $223.80. 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. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.69.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly 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. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on CME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Argus increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $217.80.

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.