Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Reduces Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. reduced its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 98.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 54,802 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FLC Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $2,122,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 140,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,289,000 after buying an additional 3,931 shares during the period. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 138.8% during the fourth quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,953,000 after buying an additional 4,152 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 352,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,376,000 after buying an additional 22,692 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 132.7% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 21,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,797,000 after acquiring an additional 12,105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $255.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $253.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.17.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group reduced their price target on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered CME Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.81.

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.