Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Makes New $5.17 Million Investment in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 24,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,170,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in CME Group by 31.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $972,863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,103 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $113,772,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $86,424,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,605,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $321,395,000 after purchasing an additional 386,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 6.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,465,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $693,847,000 after acquiring an additional 217,101 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price target (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Argus raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $216.10.

CME Group Trading Up 1.1 %

CME Group stock traded up $2.38 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $214.97. 247,143 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,770,479. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.73 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $214.73 and its 200-day moving average is $211.93.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 57.83%. CME Group’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 9.58 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 51.86%.

CME Group Company 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.