Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Buys Shares of 59,293 CME Group Inc. $CME

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 59,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,960,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID raised its holdings in CME Group by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in CME Group in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group Stock Up 1.7%

CME stock opened at $285.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $102.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $253.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $279.13.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CME shares. Barclays decreased their price target on CME Group from $316.00 to $270.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective 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. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen raised CME Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 6th. Nine investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

CME Group Profile

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.