Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Buys New Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,377 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $361,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 108.7% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 6,453 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management bought a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $503,000. Aspire Growth Partners LLC purchased a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $548,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 43,135 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,443,000 after buying an additional 1,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,169,999 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $503,939,000 after buying an additional 343,498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Larry G. Gerdes sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.10, for a total transaction of $528,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 38,651 shares in the company, valued at $10,207,729.10. This trade represents a 4.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total transaction of $1,304,836.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,339,164.96. This trade represents a 35.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME traded up $1.89 on Friday, hitting $273.99. The stock had a trading volume of 10,636,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,225,792. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $274.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $255.51. The stock has a market cap of $98.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.45. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.11 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a net margin of 57.71% and a return on equity of 14.03%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group's payout ratio is 50.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $258.20.

About CME Group

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.