Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Trims Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP cut its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 315 shares during the period. Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP’s holdings in CME Group were worth $563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Atticus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CME shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $229.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Argus lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given 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 an average target price of $215.70.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded down $4.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $212.59. The stock had a trading volume of 2,636,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,790,783. The firm has a market cap of $76.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a PEG ratio of 6.06 and a beta of 0.49. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.73 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $214.78 and a 200-day moving average of $211.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.10. CME Group had a net margin of 57.83% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.92 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.58 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $1.15 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.