Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Boosts Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in CME Group Inc. by 11.2% during the first quarter, now holding 296,131 shares valued at approximately $78,561,000.
• Several other institutional investors, including Wayfinding Financial and Cornerstone Planning Group, have also made significant changes to their positions in CME Group, highlighting strong interest in the company, which now counts 87.75% of its stock owned by institutional investors.
• CME Group reported a 10.4% year-over-year revenue growth for the last quarter, with earnings per share of $2.96, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.91.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 11.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 296,131 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 29,900 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned about 0.08% of CME Group worth $78,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,643,827 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,190,661,000 after acquiring an additional 400,737 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,113,991 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,091,401,000 after acquiring an additional 363,130 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position 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 worth $728,260,000 after acquiring an additional 621,713 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in CME Group by 29.9% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,818,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $747,744,000 after acquiring an additional 648,591 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in CME Group by 370.5% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,653,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $704,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089,935 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total value of $132,675.00. Following the sale, the director owned 4,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,300,215. This trade represents a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME traded down $5.49 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $261.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,633,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,882,480. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.38 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The company's 50-day moving average is $274.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $269.99. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $94.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.36, a P/E/G ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 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 company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. CME Group's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on CME shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays set a $298.00 price target on CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $261.93.

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.