Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,553 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC cut its position in 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 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,553 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 25.5% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $509,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $298,000. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $462,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 211,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,288,000 after purchasing an additional 7,927 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $187.00 price objective (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $217.80.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME traded down $1.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $210.94. The stock had a trading volume of 1,353,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,722,282. The company’s 50-day moving average is $214.73 and its 200 day moving average is $211.90. 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 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $75.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. 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. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.33%.

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.