The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires Shares of 243,040 CME Group Inc. $CME

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 243,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,671,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.07% of CME Group as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CME. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the first quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the purchase, the director directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of CME stock opened at $280.98 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $252.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $279.24. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CME shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target 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. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

CME Group Profile

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.