Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Purchases New Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 55,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,160,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 121,707 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $6,497,000 after acquiring an additional 21,918 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of 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 worth $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $274.98 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. 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 cap of $98.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $251.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $279.65.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CME. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $249.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $288.56.

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.