Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Takes $252,000 Position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 8,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in CME Group by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 2,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,100,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 1,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 2,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, Director Larry G. Gerdes sold 2,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.10, for a total value of $528,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 38,651 shares in the company, valued at $10,207,729.10. The trade was a 4.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total value of $81,951.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,765,601.39. This represents a 1.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $269.50 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $290.79. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $272.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.28. The firm has a market cap of $97.12 billion, a PE ratio of 27.87, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on CME Group from $282.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $258.20.

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.