Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Purchases 7,024 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,388 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,024 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $20,510,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 5.0% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,032 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 3.4% during the second quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,503 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,022 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 3.9% during the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in CME Group by 0.3% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 15,841 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,243,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $229.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of CME Group from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $195.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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 report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $215.70.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $0.25 on Tuesday, hitting $206.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,151,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,772,186. The stock's 50-day moving average is $214.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.65. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $175.73 and a 12 month high of $223.80. The company has a market capitalization of $74.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 57.83%. The company's revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. CME Group's dividend 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.