Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 24,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,170,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted 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 valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 1.7% in the third quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 3.9% in the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 0.9% in the third quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.4% in the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $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.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock traded up $2.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $214.97. The company had a trading volume of 247,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,770,479. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.73 and a 1 year high of $223.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $77.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $214.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.93.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued 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 net margin of 57.83% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.58 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CME shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Argus upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $187.00 target price (up previously from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $216.10.

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.