Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Acquires 537 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 537 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in CME Group were worth $5,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in CME Group by 31.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,858,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $972,863,000 after buying an additional 1,163,103 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $959,260,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,029,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $806,841,000 after purchasing an additional 70,588 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,668,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $734,435,000 after purchasing an additional 172,264 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,579,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $716,604,000 after purchasing an additional 125,263 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on CME. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Argus lifted their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $217.80.

CME Group Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $2.85 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $214.92. 1,135,264 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,638,325. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $211.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $211.34. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $175.73 and a 12 month high of $223.80.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 52.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Elizabeth A. Cook sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.52, for a total value of $211,520.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,241 shares in the company, valued at $3,858,336.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other CME Group news, Director Elizabeth A. Cook sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.52, for a total value of $211,520.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,241 shares in the company, valued at $3,858,336.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 7,140 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.35, for a total value of $1,501,899.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,153,999.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,640 shares of company stock worth $10,676,444 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.