Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Acquires 21,865 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 255,100 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 21,865 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.07% of CME Group worth $69,663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 2.8% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,300,450,000 after acquiring an additional 130,848 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CME Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,006,932,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,381,133 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $913,548,000 after acquiring an additional 20,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in CME Group by 23.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,830,323 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $764,725,000 after acquiring an additional 528,358 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

CME Group Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ CME opened at $284.53 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $303.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $286.56. The stock has a market cap of $102.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.26. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $257.17 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.23 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is 44.37%.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 43,007 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,539 shares of company stock worth $2,713,821. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $305.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $305.29.

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.

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