Mizuho Bank Ltd. Buys Shares of 102,518 CME Group Inc. $CME

Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 102,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $22,638,940,000. CME Group accounts for about 4.8% of Mizuho Bank Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its position in 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $274.98 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $251.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced 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 net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued 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.