AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Has $37.66 Million Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lessened its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 58.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 198,835 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $37,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in CME Group by 83.8% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its stake in CME Group by 3.2% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its position in shares of CME Group by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 4,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key CME Group News

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

• Positive Sentiment: CME reported a new monthly ADV record of 37.6 million contracts in February (up 14% YoY), driven by record activity in rates, agriculture and international products — this supports recurring fee revenue and higher near-term trading revenue. CME Group Sets New Monthly ADV Record
• Positive Sentiment: Dairy futures and options hit new open-interest and monthly ADV records (OI 403,113 contracts; monthly ADV 11,234 contracts), highlighting product-level growth and diversification of volume sources. CME Group Reaches New Open Interest and Volume Records in Dairy Futures and Options
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target to $356 and kept a Buy rating, signaling analyst confidence and implying upside vs. recent levels. That upgrade can support investor demand and sentiment. Jefferies Adjusts Price Target on CME Group
• Neutral Sentiment: CME presented prepared remarks at the Raymond James Institutional Investor Conference — investor outreach with management commentary can help clarify strategy but typically has limited immediate impact. CME Presents at Raymond James Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage notes CME has outperformed the Dow over the past year and analysts remain moderately optimistic — useful context for positioning but not a direct catalyst. Is CME Group Stock Outperforming the Dow?
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data in the feed shows 0 shares/NaN changes and 0 days-to-cover — this appears to be a data anomaly and is not meaningful for positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: The exchange rejected compensation demands from at least two natural-gas traders after a technical glitch that disrupted trading during settlement pricing — the dispute raises reputational, operational and potential regulatory/legal risk. CME Rebuffs Traders Seeking to Recoup Losses From Outage
• Negative Sentiment: Bitcoin futures demand has slid toward 2024 lows, which could depress volumes and fees from crypto-linked products if the trend continues — though CME still shows sizable open interest in crypto. Bitcoin futures demand falls to 2024 lows

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard acquired 251 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at $72,017,102.70. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CME Group Stock Down 0.4%

CME opened at $325.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $289.69 and a 200-day moving average of $276.71. The company has a market capitalization of $117.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $248.53 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CME. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.71.

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.