Ibex Wealth Advisors Makes New Investment in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Ibex Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 22,332 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,924,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in CME Group by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,098 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,087,000 after purchasing an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 2,440 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $647,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,859,000 after buying an additional 1,381 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,342 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 83.1% in the 1st quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,843 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,672,000 after buying an additional 6,281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock traded down $2.25 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $266.10. 2,640,336 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,193,765. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.70 and a 52 week high of $290.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $271.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.89 billion, a PE ratio of 27.52, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior 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, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. CME Group's payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total value of $141,210.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,668 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,035,916.56. This represents a 12.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,900 shares of company stock worth $6,147,935. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on CME Group from $282.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $287.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.