The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $57.27 Million Stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 246,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,551 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.07% of CME Group worth $57,270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Topsail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $252,000. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. now owns 21,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,920,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the period. Finally, Burling Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,833,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CME shares. Raymond James raised shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on CME Group from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CME Group from $301.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $275.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $256.80.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 21,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. The trade was a 34.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,076 shares of company stock worth $7,670,976 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 1.7 %

CME opened at $277.08 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $260.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.86. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $278.16. The stock has a market cap of $99.85 billion, a PE ratio of 28.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.19. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.30%.

CME Group Profile

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.