National Bank of Canada FI Has $117.77 Million Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 567,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,427 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.16% of CME Group worth $117,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 2.2% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 68,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,476 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 2,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter worth $216,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 0.6% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 15,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,051,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 3,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Argus lifted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $187.00 price objective (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.80.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $207.65. The company had a trading volume of 2,065,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,130. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.73 and a 52 week high of $223.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $214.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.49.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its 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. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 52.33%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.