Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Invests $502,000 in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $502,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at $610,482,000. Morgan Stanley grew its position in CME Group by 31.5% in the 3rd 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. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 261.4% in the 3rd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,280,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $256,320,000 after acquiring an additional 925,939 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in CME Group by 90.0% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,218,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,771,000 after acquiring an additional 577,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in CME Group by 992.8% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 623,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $119,508,000 after acquiring an additional 566,899 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Argus upped their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $229.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $215.70.

CME Group Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of CME traded up $3.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $213.04. 2,563,919 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,776,882. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.73 and a 52 week 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $214.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.70. The company has a market capitalization of $76.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.02, a PEG ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.10. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 57.83%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.