Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC Invests $4.50 Million in CME Group Inc. $CME

Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,500,000. CME Group makes up about 2.0% of Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caldwell Trust Co raised its position in CME Group by 116.3% during the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 5,248 shares of company stock valued at $1,616,700 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $313.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $113.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $248.53 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $296.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.52 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on CME Group from $302.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.06.

About CME Group

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.