CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Acquired by Alley Investment Management Company LLC

Key Points

• Alley Investment Management raised its CME stake by 49.9%, acquiring an additional 14,571 shares to hold 43,794 shares worth about $11.96 million per its latest 13F filing.
• Company insiders have been net sellers—including General Counsel Jonathan Marcus (3,291 shares) and Director Bryan Durkin (4,200 shares)—with 8,539 shares sold in the last 90 days and insiders now owning just 0.30% of the stock.
• CME beat quarterly EPS expectations ($2.77 vs. $2.75), raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 ($5.20 annualized, 1.8% yield), and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $309.94 target price.

Alley Investment Management Company LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 49.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 43,794 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,571 shares during the quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $11,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Caldwell Trust Co grew its position in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC grew its position in shares of CME Group by 64.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,597.04. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded CME Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on CME Group from $347.00 to $340.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $309.94.

CME Group Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $287.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.26. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $251.90 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $305.97 and a 200 day moving average of $285.78.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.33 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.59%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.