67,069 Shares in CME Group Inc. $CME Acquired by Godsey & Gibb Inc.

Godsey & Gibb Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 67,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $18,315,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter valued at $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter worth about $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in CME Group by 107.2% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $406,029,000 after acquiring an additional 777,571 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $164,648,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,830,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $764,725,000 after purchasing an additional 528,358 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $287.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $306.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.16 billion, a PE ratio of 25.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.26. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $251.90 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of CME Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $305.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $309.94.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.