Waldron Private Wealth LLC Sells 70 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Waldron Private Wealth LLC cut its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $564,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Power Corp of Canada acquired a new position in CME Group during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 966.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of CME Group by 65.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $229.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Argus upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $215.70.

CME Group Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $206.23 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.49. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.73 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.83% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.92 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.