Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 58,221 Shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 354,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,221 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $78,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CME. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in CME Group by 137.6% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,260,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309,097 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 577.9% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 645,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,872,000 after buying an additional 550,133 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,038,676,000 after acquiring an additional 537,758 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 21,465.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 485,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,072,070,000 after acquiring an additional 483,618 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in CME Group by 17.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $554,707,000 after acquiring an additional 380,071 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total transaction of $226,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,403,279.44. The trade was a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total value of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,028 shares of company stock valued at $1,811,681. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on CME Group in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $221.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $224.47.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $239.38 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.70 and a 1 year high of $249.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $227.88 and its 200 day moving average is $212.99. The stock has a market cap of $86.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About CME Group

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.