Alliancebernstein L.P. Has $424.38 Million Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,570,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 437,552 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.44% of CME Group worth $424,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,571,447,000. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in CME Group by 107.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,029,000 after acquiring an additional 777,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP bought a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter valued at about $164,648,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Barclays increased their target price on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on 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 assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $303.53.

More CME Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn raised its price target on CME to $347 (maintaining a “neutral” rating), implying roughly double-digit upside from recent levels and offering fresh analyst support for the shares. Rothschild Co Redburn adjusts price target on CME to 347 from 333, maintains neutral rating
• Neutral Sentiment: CME’s CEO Terry Duffy publicly warned that U.S. government intervention in oil futures markets would be highly damaging; exchanges including CME have voiced opposition to potential Treasury action. This raises policy/regulatory risk for energy derivatives but also underscores the exchange’s central role in market integrity — a factor that can support trading volumes in energy products if volatility rises. US intervention in oil futures would be ‘biblical disaster’, CME warns CME Group CEO warns against US intervention in oil futures markets US intervention in oil futures market could be disastrous: CME Group
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reporting in recent feeds shows zero or nonsensical values and appears to be a data anomaly rather than a real bearish signal; treat those short-interest items with caution. (Market impact minimal until corrected.)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Ken Vroman (Chief Transformation Officer) sold about 5,160 shares (~$1.59M) and SEC filings show multiple recent insider sales across senior staff. While insider sales can be routine, the cadence and size may raise governance/owner-sentiment questions for some investors. CME Group’s Vroman sells $1.59 million in stock Insider Sale: Chief Transformation Officer of $CME Sells 5,160 Shares

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $809,700. The trade was a 21.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,248 shares of company stock valued at $1,616,700. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 0.1%

CME stock opened at $311.40 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $248.53 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $112.29 billion, a PE ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.24. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $295.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

CME Group 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.