Mach 1 Financial Group LLC Buys New Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Mach 1 Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $762,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 31.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $972,863,000 after buying an additional 1,163,103 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,029,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $806,841,000 after buying an additional 70,588 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in CME Group by 4.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,668,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $734,435,000 after purchasing an additional 172,264 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 3.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,579,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $716,604,000 after purchasing an additional 125,263 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in CME Group by 6.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,465,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $693,847,000 after purchasing an additional 217,101 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $0.02 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $209.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,394,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,778,121. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.73 and a 52 week high of $223.80. The stock has a market cap of $75.47 billion, a PE ratio of 23.85, 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $214.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $211.69.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. Analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. 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, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Argus increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.80.

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.