Caxton Associates LLP Buys Shares of 60,000 CME Group Inc. $CME

Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 60,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,917,000. CME Group makes up approximately 0.6% of Caxton Associates LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in CME Group by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 86,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,190,000 after acquiring an additional 19,533 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in CME Group by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 33,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in CME Group by 33.8% in the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its stake in CME Group by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 7,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,791,000 after purchasing an additional 842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Trust Co increased its stake in CME Group by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 3,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $730,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $261.94 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $274.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $270.15. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.38 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The company has a market cap of $94.40 billion, a PE ratio of 25.36, a P/E/G ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%.The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total value of $132,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,300,215. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 256 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $270.53 per share, with a total value of $69,255.68. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,196 shares in the company, valued at $69,849,763.88. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CME. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Oppenheimer increased their price target 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. Finally, Barclays set a $298.00 price target on shares of CME Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $261.93.

About CME Group

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.