Wealth Alliance Purchases New Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Wealth Alliance purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Power Corp of Canada purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted 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 worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. 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 reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $229.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $215.70.

CME Group Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of CME stock opened at $213.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $175.73 and a twelve month high of $223.80. The company has a market capitalization of $76.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.02, a PEG ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.10. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 57.83%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.86%.

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.