Eagle Ridge Investment Management Trims Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Eagle Ridge Investment Management lowered its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 68,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 692 shares during the period. CME Group comprises approximately 1.4% of Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s holdings in CME Group were worth $14,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CME. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 5.0% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 3.9% during the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 0.9% during the third quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Two research 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.80.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME traded down $1.11 on Monday, reaching $209.83. 631,395 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,774,098. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $175.73 and a 12 month high of $223.80. The stock has a market cap of $75.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.00, a P/E/G ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.83.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

CME Group Company 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.