Godsey & Gibb Inc. Purchases 3,256 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Godsey & Gibb Inc. boosted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,256 shares during the quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $20,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter worth approximately $636,487,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 746.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,720,000 after buying an additional 1,807,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,656,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $242.26 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $277.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $286.82. The firm has a market cap of $87.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.21. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $241.45 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CME. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $302.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.