Terrence Duffy Sells 35,000 Shares of CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Stock

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) CEO Terrence Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $302.37 on Wednesday. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.17 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $297.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $288.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $109.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a net margin of 63.19% and a return on equity of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

CME Group News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: CME continues to benefit from solid fundamentals, including a recent earnings beat with stronger-than-expected revenue and EPS, plus a healthy dividend that supports shareholder returns.
• Positive Sentiment: New activity in CME-linked derivatives products, including growing interest in interest-rate and crypto-related futures, suggests the exchange remains well positioned to capture trading volume and product demand.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary also noted CME as an alternative for investors concerned about correlation risk, which reflects the company’s role as a defensive financial market infrastructure name.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company adjourned voting on Class B proposals after a quorum shortfall at its 2026 annual meeting, a procedural issue that is unlikely to change the business outlook but may keep some attention on governance matters. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Terrence Duffy sold 35,000 shares and insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares, which can weigh on sentiment because investors often view insider selling as a cautious signal. Article Title

Institutional Trading of CME Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in CME Group by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,106,000 after acquiring an additional 5,773 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 78.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,588,000 after acquiring an additional 5,855 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 345.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 237,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,965,000 after acquiring an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Dover Advisors LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 95.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 5,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 2,734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in CME Group by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 153,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,508,000 after acquiring an additional 20,477 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on CME Group from $356.00 to $349.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. 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. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.29.

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.