Brindle & Bay Financial Advisors LLC Invests $735,000 in CME Group Inc. $CME

Brindle & Bay Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $735,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caldwell Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 7,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 8,539 shares of company stock valued at $2,713,821 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CME. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays dropped their target price on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Weiss Ratings upgraded CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.71.

More CME Group News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Record Q1 revenue and volumes: CME reported record Q1 revenue and a surge in trading volumes, driven by higher hedging and risk-management activity — a core driver of futures and options trading revenue. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Earnings-call commentary backs the volume story: Management emphasized broad-based demand and rising market risk that is increasing hedging flows — a positive outlook for transaction-driven revenue. Article Title Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Full earnings transcript available for deeper color: Investors can review management’s detail on volume drivers and segment performance. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple analysts trimmed price targets but kept constructive ratings: Deutsche Bank cut its PT to $322 (keeps buy) and TD Cowen cut to $323 (keeps buy); Morgan Stanley trimmed to $353 but retained overweight — these lower targets reflect model updates despite continued positive ratings. Article Title Article Title Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: No meaningful short-interest signal: the short-interest data published for April is effectively zero/unchanged and does not explain the move. (No linked article.)
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman maintains a sell rating and lowered its PT to $267 — the most bearish big-bank view in the group and a direct negative for sentiment. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed market reaction and some headline takes that Q1 sales missed analyst expectations or that the stock looks expensive post-earnings — these narratives can pressure short-term price action despite strong volume trends. Article Title Article Title

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $285.02 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $304.51 and a 200 day moving average of $286.23. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.17 and a 52-week high of $329.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $102.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.32, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.26.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. CME Group’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.37%.

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.