Yousif Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,697 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $11,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in CME Group in the third quarter valued at $261,000. Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 5.4% in the third quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 1,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 84.5% in the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the period. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 7.0% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of 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 target on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities restated 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 restated a “market perform” rating and set a $229.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $215.70.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME traded down $4.18 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $212.59. The stock had a trading volume of 2,630,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,780,934. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 6.06 and a beta of 0.49. 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.92. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.73 and a 52 week high of $223.80.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.10. CME Group had a net margin of 57.83% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 9.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $1.15 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.