First Bank & Trust Makes New $1.33 Million Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

First Bank & Trust bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 4,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,325,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caldwell Trust Co raised its stake in CME Group by 116.3% in the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Sagard Holdings Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 2.9%

CME stock opened at $293.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $301.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $281.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.52 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s payout ratio is 46.59%.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CME. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Bank of America upped their price target on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.06.

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.