Valmark Advisers Inc. Purchases New Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Valmark Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 25.5% during the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 12.3% during the third quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $331,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in CME Group by 15.6% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 25,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,526,000 after buying an additional 3,474 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc increased its holdings in CME Group by 3.9% during the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 2.2% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 68,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,662,000 after buying an additional 1,476 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of CME opened at $210.94 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $75.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.73 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $214.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.83.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 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 2.18%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Argus lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $217.80.

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.