Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Purchases 8,394 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 16.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 58,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,394 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in CME Group were worth $17,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 103.1% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of CME Group by 1,325.2% in 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 last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth $992,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings 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 valued at $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 7,397 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 260,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 0.0%

CME stock opened at $255.36 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.31 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The business’s 50-day moving average is $253.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $92.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.25.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The business 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $316.00 to $323.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $329.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.81.

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.