Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Acquires Shares of 36,406 CME Group Inc. $CME

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 36,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,837,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caldwell Trust Co lifted its holdings in CME Group by 116.3% during the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 5,248 shares of company stock valued at $1,616,700 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $308.90 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $298.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.06.

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.