Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Raises Stock Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 18.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,569 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 12,212 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $21,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of CME Group by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 86,941 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $20,190,000 after acquiring an additional 19,533 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 83,014 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,929,000 after purchasing an additional 10,097 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,609 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC raised its position in CME Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 31,020 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,204,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its stake in CME Group by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 12,004 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,788,000 after acquiring an additional 973 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total value of $141,210.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,668 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,035,916.56. The trade was a 12.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 390 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.50, for a total transaction of $108,225.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 6,708 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,861,470. This represents a 5.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,576,294. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CME. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $261.93.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME traded up $1.26 on Friday, reaching $282.21. 1,488,447 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,050,219. 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 one year low of $203.77 and a one year high of $290.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.70 billion, a PE ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.44. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $275.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $265.90.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group's payout ratio is 48.40%.

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.