CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Reaches New 1-Year High After Strong Earnings

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $296.16 and last traded at $293.07, with a volume of 3975588 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $290.77.

The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The firm 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%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS.

Key CME Group News

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on CME shares. Bank of America raised their target price on CME Group from $201.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Argus lowered their price target on CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday, October 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.82.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 258,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,017,102.70. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CME. Intrua Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 132.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 21,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,797,000 after purchasing an additional 12,105 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in CME Group by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 8,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares in the last quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in CME Group during the 4th quarter worth about $516,000. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC lifted its stake in CME Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 6,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CME Group Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $276.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $272.84. The company has a market capitalization of $107.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.65, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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.