Holocene Advisors LP Purchases New Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 268,588 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $72,570,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caldwell Trust Co grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 116.3% during the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC bought a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $313.83 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $296.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $113.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for 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%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.52 EPS. Equities analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 46.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale 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 the firm’s 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 transaction, the director directly owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 5,248 shares of company stock valued at $1,616,700 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group 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.