CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Position Increased by Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 97,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,024 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $20,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CME. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $610,482,000. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in CME Group by 31.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $972,863,000 after buying an additional 1,163,103 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 261.4% in the third quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,280,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $256,320,000 after purchasing an additional 925,939 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 90.0% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,218,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,771,000 after purchasing an additional 577,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 992.8% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 623,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $119,508,000 after purchasing an additional 566,899 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $229.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Argus lifted their target price on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Two 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $215.70.

CME Group Trading Up 0.4 %

CME stock traded up $0.80 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $207.03. The company had a trading volume of 589,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,764,209. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $214.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.60. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $175.73 and a 12 month high of $223.80. The stock has a market cap of $74.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.83% and a return on equity of 12.32%. CME Group’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.