Carnegie Investment Counsel Increases Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 148,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,350 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up 0.8% of Carnegie Investment Counsel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in CME Group were worth $41,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,190,661,000 after purchasing an additional 400,737 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,091,401,000 after purchasing an additional 363,130 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.0% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,920,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $804,823,000 after purchasing an additional 84,005 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 29.9% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,818,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $747,744,000 after purchasing an additional 648,591 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 10.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $735,539,000 after purchasing an additional 260,065 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $304.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $284.53.

CME Group Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ CME opened at $268.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.94 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.91 billion, a PE ratio of 26.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $266.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.57.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.40%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total transaction of $102,704.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,056,962. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,043 shares of company stock worth $3,527,956 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is 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.