Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Reduces Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lessened its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,741,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,962 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $739,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caldwell Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 116.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays cut their price objective 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. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their target price on CME Group from $340.00 to $316.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.29.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were 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 represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $286.82 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $103.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.23. 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 $257.17 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $302.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $286.95.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

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.