Aviance Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $525,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $959,260,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $253,563,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in CME Group by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,589,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,072,654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172,575 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,163,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $113,772,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus upped their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $206.00 to $187.00 in a report on Friday, June 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $215.90.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 7,140 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.35, for a total transaction of $1,501,899.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,153,999.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,290 shares of company stock valued at $11,393,700. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ CME traded down $0.73 on Monday, reaching $195.87. The stock had a trading volume of 275,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,888,111. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $180.11 and a 12-month high of $223.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $205.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $208.58.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

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.