Artemis Investment Management LLP Buys 13,598 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 32.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,342 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 13,598 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP's holdings in CME Group were worth $11,908,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 224.6% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,531 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $976,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 27,230 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,862,000 after purchasing an additional 903 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 192.8% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 2,284,287 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $491,784,000 after purchasing an additional 30,320 shares during the period. Finally, Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 6,474 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,394,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating and set a $210.00 price target (down from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "sell" rating and set a $187.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $215.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,399,936.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total transaction of $8,436,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,399,936.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,290 shares of company stock valued at $11,393,700 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:CME traded up $1.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $196.60. 6,618,079 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,263,889. The company's 50 day moving average is $205.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.61. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $180.11 and a twelve month high of $223.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $70.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 0.52.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 56.84%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 9.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.33%.

CME Group Company 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.