Mufg Bank LTD. Buys Shares of 30,001 CME Group Inc. $CME

Mufg Bank 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 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 30,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,625,000. CME Group comprises 0.2% of Mufg Bank LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in CME Group by 103.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after buying an additional 121,707 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 1,325.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after buying an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in CME Group by 2.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 7,397 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on CME shares. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. TD Cowen cut their target price on CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME opened at $269.80 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year 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 $97.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $250.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $280.19.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.96 earnings per share. Analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

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