Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Acquires 5,357 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,357 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $15,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its position in shares of CME Group by 206.9% during the second quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Caldwell Trust Co raised its position in CME Group by 116.3% in 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 last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in CME Group by 84.3% in the 2nd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Sagard Holdings Management Inc. bought a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $262.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $94.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $225.46 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $273.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 58.84%.The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CME. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on CME Group from $307.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on CME Group from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Argus lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.06.

CME Group Company 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.