Howe & Rusling Inc. Sells 1,006 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Howe & Rusling Inc. trimmed its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,006 shares during the quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $7,329,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in 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 period. FMR LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,029,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $806,841,000 after purchasing an additional 70,588 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in CME Group by 4.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,668,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $734,435,000 after purchasing an additional 172,264 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 3.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,579,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $716,604,000 after purchasing an additional 125,263 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in 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 period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Down 0.3 %

CME traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $209.00. 1,229,989 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,770,375. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $175.73 and a one year high of $223.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.85, a PEG ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $214.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.69.

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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s payout ratio is 52.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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. 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 note on Thursday, April 25th. Argus increased their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $187.00 price objective (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $217.80.

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.