Bank of Montreal Can Increases Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 742,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 47,231 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.21% of CME Group worth $200,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CME. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in CME Group by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,437,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $658,474,000 after acquiring an additional 124,820 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 6,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,815,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth $5,970,000. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.1% in the third quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 33,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,965,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LGT Group Foundation raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 3.9% in the third quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 232,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,760,000 after purchasing an additional 8,731 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about CME Group

Here are the key news stories impacting CME Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CME is reporting record trading activity and demand: the energy complex set an all‑time single‑day volume record (8.3M contracts) and the firm touted record monthly futures volume, evidence of strong client flow and fee generation that supports revenues and long‑term earnings. Energy Volume Record
• Positive Sentiment: Product expansion: CME launched new South Asia crude palm oil futures and already recorded initial block trades, showing uptake for new contracts and incremental revenue opportunities from expanded product suites. Palm Oil Futures Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Infrastructure partnership: Tickblaze announced integration of CME futures market data into its platform, which can broaden distribution of CME data products to prop trading shops and institutional users. This supports data‑services revenue potential. Tickblaze Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually large options activity: a huge spike in call purchases was reported (very large notional / volume vs typical), which could signal speculative bullish positioning but may also be one‑day noise; treat as mixed short‑term signal.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in recent feeds shows zero/NaN entries and 0 days‑to‑cover — this appears to be a reporting anomaly and should not be read as a material change in short demand.
• Negative Sentiment: Ex‑dividend mechanical pressure: the board declared a large combined payout (~$7.45 per share), and the stock adjusted lower on the ex‑dividend date as expected; that mechanical drop is the main proximate cause of today’s decline. Ex‑Dividend Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Sell pressure from sentiment and flows: recent profit‑taking after strong run, at least one analyst downgrade and large institutional moves (notably big reductions by some asset managers) and reported insider sales have likely added incremental selling pressure. Analyst / Institutional / Insider Notes

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other news, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 4.0%

CME Group stock opened at $306.34 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $248.53 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $293.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $278.26. The company has a market capitalization of $110.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America boosted their target price on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.71.

CME Group Company 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.