87,100 Shares in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Purchased by Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 87,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $23,107,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,243,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,952,273,000 after purchasing an additional 326,623 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in CME Group by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,389,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,946,717,000 after purchasing an additional 104,697 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in CME Group by 89.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,280,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,923,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921,278 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,107,389,000. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its position in CME Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,081,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $947,821,000 after purchasing an additional 61,908 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Trading Down 0.5%

CME stock opened at $271.38 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $274.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $255.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $192.11 and a 52-week high of $290.79. The firm has a market cap of $97.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.30, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.45.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a net margin of 57.71% and a return on equity of 14.03%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued 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 1.84%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 50.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. 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. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $269.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $258.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Derek Sammann sold 4,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were 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 now owns 8,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,339,164.96. This represents a 35.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.42, for a total transaction of $141,210.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,916.56. This represents a 12.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,400 shares of company stock worth $3,680,610. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

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.