Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Invests $658,000 in CME Group Inc. $CME

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $658,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID raised its position in shares of CME Group by 191.9% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $277.32 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $218.31 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $99.72 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $251.75 and its 200 day moving average is $279.35.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

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.