CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $307.5882.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective 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. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $333.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,597.04. The trade was a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after buying an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in CME Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,408,747,000 after buying an additional 56,725 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CME Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in CME Group by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,344,776,000 after buying an additional 134,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in CME Group by 2.8% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,300,450,000 after buying an additional 130,848 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting CME Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Record trading volumes: CME reported Q1 international average daily volume (ADV) of a record 11.4M contracts (up 30% y/y), with all major product categories hitting highs — a direct revenue driver for the exchange. PR Newswire: Q1 2026 ADV
• Positive Sentiment: Crypto expansion: CME is launching Avalanche (AVAX) and Sui (SUI) futures on May 4 and pushing toward 24/7 crypto trading — moves that broaden product mix, attract institutional flow, and create new fee pools. Multiple outlets note this could reshape CME’s derivatives moat. Yahoo Finance: 24/7 Crypto Push
• Positive Sentiment: Near-term crypto momentum: Rising TVL for SUI and market rallies ahead of CME listings suggest initial demand for the new contracts, which could boost volumes at launch. Coingape: SUI TVL
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Barclays raised its price target to $344 (equal weight) — signaling upside vs. the current quote — and some brokers express continuing earnings optimism. MarketScreener: Barclays PT
• Neutral Sentiment: New coverage: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage with “market perform” and a $305 target — a largely neutral signal that may cap near-term enthusiasm. Benzinga: KBW Coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: CME market data in focus: CME’s own feeds showed a shift in Fed-cut odds and are being used widely by markets — underscoring CME’s franchise but also tying sentiment to macro-driven volume swings. CNBC: Fed odds via CME
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term volatility and block trades: Large pre-news block trades in crude futures and a volatile market reaction to geopolitical developments increased intraday volatility — a factor that can prompt profit-taking and wider share swings even as volumes rise. QuiverQuant: Oil futures block sale

CME Group Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $302.81 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $108.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $306.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.06. CME Group has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.59%.

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.