Graham Capital Management L.P. Boosts Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Graham Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 80,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,338 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up 0.5% of Graham Capital Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $21,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Militia Capital Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $240,000. Opal Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $8,778,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $109,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $2,237,000. Finally, L2 Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC now owns 1,860 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CME. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.71.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $261.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $94.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $283.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.95. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $244.56 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.37%.

CME Group Company Profile

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.