MCF Advisors LLC Has $61,000 Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 26.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $61,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 5.0% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $605,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 3.9% during the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 0.9% during the third quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 1.4% during the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $229.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised 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 report on Monday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $215.70.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $215.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $214.59 and a 200-day moving average of $211.89. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $175.73 and a one year high of $223.80. The company has a market cap of $77.57 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.