Mizuho Bank Ltd. Takes Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 102,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $22,638,940,000. CME Group makes up about 4.8% of Mizuho Bank Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 11,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its holdings in CME Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 2.3% in the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 3.8% in the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $274.98 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $251.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.57. 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 market cap of $98.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.23.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CME shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $286.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Bank of America raised their price objective on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Nine research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.