National Pension Service Acquires 86,733 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

National Pension Service increased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 917,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 86,733 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.25% of CME Group worth $252,817,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CME. AIA Group Ltd boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,510 shares during the period. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 34.1% during the first quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 58,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,570,000 after buying an additional 14,910 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 20.1% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 8,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,359,000 after buying an additional 1,491 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 64,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Investors Management Corp bought a new position in CME Group in the 1st quarter valued at $298,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $278.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $100.55 billion, a PE ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $266.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $272.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $222.56 and a 52-week high of $290.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.84% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $266.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on CME Group from $283.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $286.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 262 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $265.19 per share, for a total transaction of $69,479.78. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 258,459 shares in the company, valued at $68,540,742.21. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 379 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.83, for a total transaction of $98,475.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,508 shares in the company, valued at $2,470,463.64. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 14,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,791,486 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.