Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Grows Stock Position in CME Group Inc. $CME

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 78.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,855 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $3,588,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after buying an additional 532,549 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in CME Group by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,178,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,524,271,000 after purchasing an additional 319,899 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group in the second quarter worth about $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of CME Group by 2.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,682,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,289,910,000 after acquiring an additional 92,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,833,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,056,476,000 after purchasing an additional 238,522 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the transaction, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 directly owned 65,804 shares in the company, valued at $17,737,468.20. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on CME shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on CME Group from $310.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.82.

CME Group News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results and record annual figures: CME posted Q4 EPS of $2.77 and revenue of ~$1.65B, with record 2025 annual revenue of $6.5B and all-time-high average daily volume in Q4 — fundamental beat that supports revenue resilience and margin strength. CME Group Q4 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates, ADV Rises Y/Y
• Positive Sentiment: Management guidance and strategy: Management said fee adjustments could lift revenue ~1%–1.5% and reiterated plans to expand 24/7 crypto and securities clearing — a structural growth lever if adoption ramps. CME targets 1%-1.5% revenue lift; expanding 24/7 crypto
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley maintains Buy: A Wall Street analyst reiterated a Buy / Overweight view citing CME’s resilient fee-based franchise and underappreciated structural growth, supporting medium‑term upside. Morgan Stanley maintains Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC raises price target modestly to $302 (sector perform): a small lift in analyst valuation but not a clear catalyst given the modest upside. RBC raises PT to $302
• Neutral Sentiment: Raymond James trims price target slightly to $310 but keeps Outperform — minimal change to the investment thesis. Raymond James adjusts PT to $310
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO says firm is exploring a proprietary token and tokenized cash pilots (with Google) to enable faster collateral movement and potential 24/7 trading — strategically important but execution, regulatory and adoption risks leave near-term impact uncertain. CME exploring issuing token
• Negative Sentiment: JPMorgan keeps an Underweight rating and has a $266 target (below current levels), signaling downside risk if volumes or product adoption slow relative to expectations. JPMorgan maintains Underweight, PT $266
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst caution / valuation note: a Seeking Alpha piece argues quality doesn’t automatically justify a buy today — a reminder that valuation and long-term growth execution should be assessed before adding exposure. CME Group: Quality Shines Through, But It Doesn’t Mean To Buy

CME Group Stock Up 0.9%

CME Group stock opened at $297.38 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $239.70 and a twelve month high of $302.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $276.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.84. The firm has a market cap of $107.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.27. 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 (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during 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%. CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast 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.