Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Has $19.83 Million Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co lowered its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 20.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 72,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,500 shares during the quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in CME Group were worth $19,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CME. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 11.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of CME Group by 103.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 121,707 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,918 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter worth about $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of CME Group by 2.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 287,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 7,397 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $277.42 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $293.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.62. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.17 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $100.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 44,044 shares of company stock valued at $13,297,507 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CME. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on CME Group from $340.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.29.

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.