Demars Financial Group LLC Acquires 124 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Demars Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in CME Group by 31.5% in 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. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $113,772,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $86,424,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 31.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,605,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,395,000 after purchasing an additional 386,730 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of 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. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Argus upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $229.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, April 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $215.70.

CME Group Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:CME opened at $216.01 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $214.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.92. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $175.73 and a 12 month high of $223.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $77.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.44, a P/E/G ratio of 6.06 and a beta of 0.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during 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%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.92 EPS. Equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.58 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.86%.

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.