Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 131,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,519 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $39,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in CME Group by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,918 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 7,397 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $243.07 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $264.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $283.70. 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 $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The company has a market cap of $88.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Barclays cut their price target on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.00.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.