Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $35.46 Million Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. decreased its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 129,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,543 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $35,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after purchasing an additional 588,509 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,300,450,000 after purchasing an additional 130,848 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,006,932,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,381,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $913,548,000 after purchasing an additional 20,213 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,830,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $764,725,000 after purchasing an additional 528,358 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays decreased their price target on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on CME Group from $275.00 to $267.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.29.

CME Group Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $305.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $297.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $288.46. The company has a market cap of $110.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.61 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. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $257.17 and a 1 year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,317,117.55. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,597.04. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 42,791 shares of company stock worth $12,937,271. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.