CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by PineStone Asset Management Inc.

PineStone Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,610,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 109,200 shares during the quarter. CME Group comprises approximately 4.5% of PineStone Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. PineStone Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $683,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. First Community Trust NA acquired a new position in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH bought a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Bayban acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of CME stock opened at $293.87 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.31 and a 1 year high of $329.16. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.30 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CME. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded CME Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on CME Group from $301.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $292.94.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director William Shepard acquired 293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $268.76 per share, with a total value of $78,746.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 263,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,761,551.64. This represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence Duffy sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.44, for a total transaction of $4,116,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,150,497.20. This represents a 26.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Profile

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for futures and options contracts. Its products cover major asset classes, including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign currencies, agricultural commodities, energy and metals. The company also provides market data, benchmark information and related services used by financial institutions, corporations, producers, investors and other market participants.

CME Group’s exchange portfolio includes CME, the Chicago Board of Trade, the New York Mercantile Exchange and COMEX.