Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Cuts Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 596,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,570 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned 0.17% of CME Group worth $161,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jessup Wealth Management Inc lifted its stake in CME Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 7,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,197,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.7% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its position in CME Group by 2.7% during the second quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in CME Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 3,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $827,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlatl Advisers LLC grew its position in CME Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CME. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.53.

CME Group Stock Up 1.0%

NASDAQ CME opened at $319.50 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $248.53 and a 52 week high of $322.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $115.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $287.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $275.99.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the purchase, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 30,248 shares of company stock worth $8,355,450 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

More CME Group News

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

• Positive Sentiment: CME reported record 2025 results: $6.5B in revenue, AD volume rose 6% to 28.1M contracts (commodities +12%, financials +5%), highlighting continued franchise growth and fee-related revenue strength. This earnings strength is the primary bullish catalyst. CME Group (CME) Achieves Record 2025 Results with $6.5B in Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: CME expanded physical-market infrastructure by approving the first aluminium warehousing facility in Taiwan, supporting commodities product growth and global market access for metals. That strengthens long-term fees and product diversification. CME approves first aluminium warehousing in Taiwan
• Neutral Sentiment: Intraday data and flow reports show mixed signals: QuiverQuant flagged heavy volume and both insider selling and sizable institutional position changes (some managers added, some trimmed). This suggests active rebalancing rather than a clear directional bet. $CME stock is up 2% today. Here’s what we see in our data.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data in the feed appears anomalous (zeros/NaN). No clear short-pressure signal is evident from that entry, so it shouldn’t be driving meaningful price moves. (Treat as data glitch/unreliable.)
• Negative Sentiment: CME experienced a brief technical glitch that halted metals and natural gas trading on Globex and briefly pressured the stock when markets reacted; trading was subsequently restarted. Operational reliability concerns can weigh on near-term sentiment until fully resolved. CME Group halts metals and natural gas trading on technical issues
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary criticizing CME’s Variable Storage Rate program (commodity storage economics) may pressure sentiment among some commodities market participants; impact is likely niche but could attract headlines. Why I Hate Variable Storage Rates

CME Group 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.