Tower Bridge Advisors Trims Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Tower Bridge Advisors reduced its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 26,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 363 shares during the quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in CME Group were worth $7,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,717,000 after purchasing an additional 104,697 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 89.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after buying an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $947,821,000 after acquiring an additional 61,908 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in CME Group by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,943,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,788,000 after acquiring an additional 403,920 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,135,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $728,260,000 after acquiring an additional 621,713 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays set a $298.00 target price on CME Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $261.93.

CME Group Stock Up 0.2%

CME Group stock opened at $274.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $98.95 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.44. 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’s fifty day moving average is $276.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $263.11. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.25 and a 1-year high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 48.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 390 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.50, for a total value of $108,225.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 6,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,861,470. This trade represents a 5.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Phyllis M. Lockett sold 1,060 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.88, for a total transaction of $294,552.80. Following the sale, the director owned 3,108 shares in the company, valued at $863,651.04. This represents a 25.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,400 shares of company stock worth $2,881,130. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.