Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Grows Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,913 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 31.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $972,863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,103 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $113,772,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $86,424,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,605,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,395,000 after purchasing an additional 386,730 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,465,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus upped their target price on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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 given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $217.80.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock traded down $1.60 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $210.94. 1,353,075 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,788,555. The company has a market cap of $75.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.97 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $214.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.90. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.73 and a 1 year high of $223.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 yield of 2.18%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 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.