MGO One Seven LLC Increases Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

MGO One Seven LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,881 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 994 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $1,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CME Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,952,273,000 after buying an additional 326,623 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,946,717,000 after acquiring an additional 104,697 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of CME Group by 89.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after acquiring an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $947,821,000 after purchasing an additional 61,908 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $2.54 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $274.90. 506,336 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,151,545. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $259.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $242.62. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $274.99.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on CME Group from $269.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup downgraded shares of CME Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $256.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,076 shares of company stock valued at $7,399,696. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.