Madison Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Madison Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 36.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 105,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,393 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $28,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CME. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,571,447,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in CME Group by 107.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,029,000 after purchasing an additional 777,571 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $164,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after purchasing an additional 532,549 shares during the period. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in CME Group by 131,625.5% during the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 486,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,970,000 after buying an additional 485,698 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CME Group News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buy — Intermede Investment Partners disclosed a new ~$77.8M position in CME on its 13F, signaling fresh institutional demand that could support shares. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product expansion — CME announced it will launch financially settled Single Stock Futures covering 50+ large U.S. names (Alphabet, Meta, NVIDIA, Tesla, etc.), a new product that can attract volume and fees if approved. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Distribution / flow win — FlexTrade integrated CME’s FX Spot+ and EBS Market offerings into its FlexFX platform, expanding distribution of CME liquidity pools and potentially boosting FX-related revenue. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed short-interest readings — recent filings show short interest rose to ~5.21M shares (≈1.4% of shares, ~2.8 days to cover) as of Jan 30, but another report contains conflicting/zero values, making the net short-pressure unclear. (Internal short-interest notices)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares (~$224k) earlier this month; this is one of several recent insider sales and can be perceived as a weak signal by some investors. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst resistance — Goldman Sachs reiterated a sell rating (raising target slightly to $266), which may cap upside for investors relying on sell-side guidance. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CME shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on CME Group from $304.00 to $302.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Argus dropped their target price on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.59.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total transaction of $6,738,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,737,468.20. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. This trade represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $306.76 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $239.70 and a 52-week high of $309.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $278.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $273.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.27.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.