Holocene Advisors LP Makes New $72.57 Million Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 268,588 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $72,570,000. Holocene Advisors LP owned 0.07% of CME Group as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 2.7% in the second quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $392,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $827,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, 1248 Management LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CME. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.06.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $313.83 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $296.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.39. The firm has a market cap of $113.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $248.53 and a 12 month high of $329.16.

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

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 5,248 shares of company stock valued at $1,616,700 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

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.