Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its stake in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 596,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,570 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in CME Group were worth $161,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CME Group by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,307,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,539,618,000 after purchasing an additional 130,698 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 3.6% during the second 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 buying an additional 319,899 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,571,447,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,682,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,289,910,000 after acquiring an additional 92,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of CME Group by 6.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 238,522 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total value of $1,300,530.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $278.37 per share, for a total transaction of $69,870.87. Following the purchase, 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 position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $319.50 on Monday. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $248.53 and a 12-month high of $322.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $287.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $275.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.21 billion, a PE ratio of 28.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.24.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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, February 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.53.

Key Stories Impacting CME Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: CME reported record 2025 results: $6.5B in revenue, AD volume rose 6% to 28.1M contracts (commodities +12%, financials +5%), highlighting continued franchise growth and fee-related revenue strength. This earnings strength is the primary bullish catalyst. CME Group (CME) Achieves Record 2025 Results with $6.5B in Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: CME expanded physical-market infrastructure by approving the first aluminium warehousing facility in Taiwan, supporting commodities product growth and global market access for metals. That strengthens long-term fees and product diversification. CME approves first aluminium warehousing in Taiwan
• Neutral Sentiment: Intraday data and flow reports show mixed signals: QuiverQuant flagged heavy volume and both insider selling and sizable institutional position changes (some managers added, some trimmed). This suggests active rebalancing rather than a clear directional bet. $CME stock is up 2% today. Here’s what we see in our data.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data in the feed appears anomalous (zeros/NaN). No clear short-pressure signal is evident from that entry, so it shouldn’t be driving meaningful price moves. (Treat as data glitch/unreliable.)
• Negative Sentiment: CME experienced a brief technical glitch that halted metals and natural gas trading on Globex and briefly pressured the stock when markets reacted; trading was subsequently restarted. Operational reliability concerns can weigh on near-term sentiment until fully resolved. CME Group halts metals and natural gas trading on technical issues
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary criticizing CME’s Variable Storage Rate program (commodity storage economics) may pressure sentiment among some commodities market participants; impact is likely niche but could attract headlines. Why I Hate Variable Storage Rates

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.