Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. Makes New $11.64 Million Investment in CME Group Inc. $CME

Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. purchased a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 52,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,638,000. CME Group comprises about 5.8% of Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,749,965,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter worth about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth about $867,313,000. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $769,376,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $629,771,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. The trade was a 0.12% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $266.94 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $250.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $279.81. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

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

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. 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 presently 44.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings cut CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Nine investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.56.

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.