Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Buys New Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 18,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,091,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Jessup Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 7,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,197,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in CME Group by 0.7% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC increased its position in CME Group by 2.7% during the second quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CME. Bank of America upped their price objective on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock worth $8,355,450. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 3.0%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $316.45 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $286.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $275.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $247.08 and a 12 month high of $322.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.11 billion, a PE ratio of 28.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.27.

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 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 company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

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.