Manitou Investment Management Ltd. Buys 938 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Manitou Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 29.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 938 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up about 0.2% of Manitou Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Manitou Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 108.7% during the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,949,000 after acquiring an additional 6,453 shares during the last quarter. Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $503,000. Aspire Growth Partners LLC bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $548,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in CME Group by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,169,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $503,939,000 after buying an additional 343,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sentinel Trust Co. LBA purchased a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $368,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $268.35 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $96.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $271.81 and a 200-day moving average of $253.55.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 57.52%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 50.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Barclays upped their price target on CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $200.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of CME Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $282.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $258.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total transaction of $141,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,668 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,916.56. This represents a 12.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,686,980. The trade was a 31.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,900 shares of company stock valued at $6,147,935. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.