Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,851,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $629,771,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.79% of CME Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 64.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2,075.0% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID grew its position in shares of CME Group by 191.9% in the fourth 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $269.80 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $250.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $280.19.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

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 paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CME shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Erste Group Bank downgraded CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.