Fulton Bank N.A. Buys 2,756 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Fulton Bank N.A. raised its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 43.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,756 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $9,802,366,000 after purchasing an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in CME Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,144,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,408,747,000 after acquiring an additional 56,725 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,924,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,344,776,000 after acquiring an additional 134,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,812,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,300,450,000 after acquiring an additional 130,848 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about CME Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group (CME) to Outperform from Market Perform and kept a $305 price target, citing an attractive risk/reward setup after recent stock weakness. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying may also support sentiment: Director William Shepard bought 325 shares at about $230.57 per share, signaling confidence from management. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts still expect modest earnings growth ahead of CME’s next report, and one note lifted FY2027 EPS estimates slightly, reinforcing the view that fundamentals remain solid. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: CME is expected to report second-quarter results soon, with Wall Street looking for low-single-digit profit growth; investors may be waiting for the print before making bigger moves. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman Sachs cut its price target on CME Group (CME) to $245 from $267 and maintained a Sell rating, which likely weighed on the stock. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: DraftKings’ move to bring its prediction-markets infrastructure in-house may reduce reliance on third-party platforms such as CME over time, creating a potential competitive headwind. Article Title

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CME. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $300.94.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $231.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $83.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.31 and a 12 month high of $329.16. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $269.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $284.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

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.