Twin Capital Management Inc. Buys New Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Twin Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $625,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. MayTech Global Investments LLC bought a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Power Corp of Canada bought a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CME Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 966.7% in 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. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $229.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Barclays boosted their target price on CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $215.70.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $213.04 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $214.42 and a 200 day moving average of $211.70. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.73 and a 52-week high of $223.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $76.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.02, a PEG ratio of 5.94 and a beta of 0.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.92 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.86%.

CME Group 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.