PineStone Asset Management Inc. Has $713.68 Million Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,613,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,352 shares during the period. CME Group accounts for about 4.4% of PineStone Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. PineStone Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $713,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CME. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 11.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in CME Group by 16.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 65,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,109,000 after purchasing an additional 9,463 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $246,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 12,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,365,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 4,104.2% in the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 28,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,949,000 after buying an additional 28,155 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $295.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.92 billion, a PE ratio of 26.47, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The business’s 50 day moving average is $303.43 and its 200-day moving average is $282.36.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.06.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.