Alliancebernstein L.P. Purchases 808,740 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. significantly increased its stake in CME Group Inc. by 185.5% in the first quarter, now owning 1,244,608 shares valued at approximately $330.18 million.
• Several institutional investors also boosted their holdings, with GQG Partners LLC increasing its position by 7,676.3%, now owning over 2.2 million shares worth nearly $585 million.
• Equities analysts rate CME Group with a consensus of "Hold", with varying price targets including $305.00 from UBS Group and $275.00 from Citigroup.

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 185.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,244,608 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 808,740 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.35% of CME Group worth $330,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $9,190,661,000 after purchasing an additional 400,737 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 363,130 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 621,713 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 648,591 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783,759 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $735,539,000 after buying an additional 260,065 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 256 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $270.53 per share, for a total transaction of $69,255.68. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 258,196 shares in the company, valued at $69,849,763.88. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total value of $3,229,407.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock traded up $1.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $262.44. The stock had a trading volume of 425,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,298,607. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $274.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $270.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.38 and a 52 week high of $290.79.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on CME. Barclays set a $298.00 price objective on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group reduced their price target on CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Citigroup increased their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $260.60.

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.