Townsend & Associates Inc Boosts Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Townsend & Associates Inc raised its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 63.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,041 shares during the period. CME Group makes up about 1.8% of Townsend & Associates Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in CME Group were worth $14,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CME. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 966.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 1,233.3% in the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $187.00 price target (up previously from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $217.80.

CME Group Stock Up 0.6 %

CME stock traded up $1.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $213.11. 849,556 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,775,730. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.42. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $175.73 and a 12 month high of $223.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $76.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.