Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Takes Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $502,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $610,482,000. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in CME Group by 31.5% during 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 in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 261.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in CME Group by 90.0% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in CME Group by 992.8% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CME. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $229.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $215.70.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock traded up $3.39 on Friday, reaching $213.04. The stock had a trading volume of 2,563,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,776,882. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.73 and a 1 year high of $223.80. The company has a market cap of $76.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $214.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.70.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

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

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.