Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 82,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $18,306,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter valued at about $6,749,965,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $867,313,000. Alphabet Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $769,376,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $629,771,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $274.98 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.65. The company has a market capitalization of $98.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings lowered CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.