Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Purchases 8,100 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,100 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in CME Group were worth $21,927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter worth $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 107.2% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,029,000 after acquiring an additional 777,571 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth $164,648,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,802,366,000 after purchasing an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $289.54 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.17 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.23. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $303.08 and its 200 day moving average is $286.82.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, February 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.29.

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.