CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Purchased by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in CME Group by 13.7%, owning approximately 0.08% of the company, valued at $74.4 million after purchasing an additional 33,871 shares in the first quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed views on CME Group, with a majority issuing Hold ratings while some analysts rated it as a Buy or Sell, leading to an average price target of $261.93.
• CME Group announced a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $5.00 and a dividend yield of 1.9%, with the payout ratio currently at 48.40%.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 13.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 280,479 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 33,871 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.08% of CME Group worth $74,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in CME Group by 122.2% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in CME Group by 612.5% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in CME Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays set a $298.00 target price on shares of CME Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $261.93.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.35, for a total transaction of $132,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,300,215. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 11,896 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.47, for a total transaction of $3,229,407.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,734,436.80. The trade was a 40.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME traded up $3.95 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $269.35. The company had a trading volume of 2,136,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,316,757. The company has a market capitalization of $97.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.43. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.38 and a 1-year high of $290.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $275.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $269.61.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.05. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.56 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group's payout ratio is 48.40%.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.