Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Buys New Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 134,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,737,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $612,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $53,671,000. FLC Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,122,000. Haverford Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $13,818,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 352,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,376,000 after acquiring an additional 22,692 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on CME shares. Erste Group Bank cut CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

CME Group Stock Up 1.7%

NASDAQ CME opened at $285.80 on Friday. 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 $102.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $253.80 and a 200-day moving average of $279.13. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the acquisition, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.