9,352 Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Purchased by Oak Thistle LLC

Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 9,352 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,481,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,107,389,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in CME Group by 89.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,923,047,000 after acquiring an additional 3,921,278 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in CME Group by 32,941.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,858,887 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $493,144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,261 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in CME Group by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,366,786 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $781,869,000 after acquiring an additional 939,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 4,216.2% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 922,805 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $214,301,000 after purchasing an additional 901,425 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total value of $141,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,916.56. This trade represents a 12.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.61, for a total value of $1,304,836.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,339,164.96. The trade was a 35.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 11,400 shares of company stock valued at $3,152,410. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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. Oppenheimer raised their price target on CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays dropped their price target on CME Group from $299.00 to $298.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $269.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $261.93.

CME Group Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $2.37 on Friday, hitting $279.55. 1,834,736 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,117,443. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.25 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 0.12. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $276.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $262.25. The company has a market cap of $100.74 billion, a PE ratio of 27.06, a PEG ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.44.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.60% and a net margin of 58.48%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. CME Group's payout ratio is presently 48.40%.

CME Group 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.