AIA Group Ltd Lowers Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

AIA Group Ltd cut its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 191 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,085,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,355,370,000 after purchasing an additional 108,740 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.5% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,913,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,224,597,000 after purchasing an additional 31,354 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,163,103 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 70,588 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.5% during the first quarter. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,962,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $814,270,000 after purchasing an additional 133,897 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 equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $229.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Argus raised their target price on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Two 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, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $215.70.

CME Group Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of CME stock opened at $209.65 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.73 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The stock has a market cap of $75.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64, a P/E/G ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 57.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.92 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.86%.

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.