Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. Trims Stake in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Burgundy Asset Management trimmed its stake in CME by 1.9% (sold 11,427 shares) to 575,337 shares in Q3, leaving it with about 0.16% ownership of CME valued at roughly $153.3 million and making CME its 26th-largest holding.
• CME beat quarterly expectations with $2.77 EPS (vs. $2.75 est.) and $1.65B revenue (vs. $1.64B est.), reported 8.1% revenue growth year-over-year, and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 ($5.20 annualized, 1.6% yield).
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but cautious: MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of Hold with a $302.71 price target, while multiple firms have recently raised targets (range roughly $313–$340) amid a split of 1 Strong Buy, 8 Buy, 7 Hold and 3 Sell ratings.

Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lowered its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 575,337 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 11,427 shares during the period. CME Group makes up approximately 1.4% of Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of CME Group worth $153,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Amundi increased its position in shares of CME Group by 24.0% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,987,347 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $548,150,000 after acquiring an additional 385,225 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 8.9% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 70,712 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $19,106,000 after purchasing an additional 5,773 shares during the period. Alley Investment Management Company LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 86.0% in the third quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 29,223 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,896,000 after purchasing an additional 13,512 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CME Group by 85.2% during the 3rd quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 3,919 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Financial Group LLC raised its position in CME Group by 310.2% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen increased their price target on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.71.

CME Group Stock Performance

CME stock opened at $320.00 on Thursday. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $248.53 and a one year high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $115.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.67, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $290.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $277.01.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is a positive change from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.80%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,647,194.10. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 251 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the acquisition, the director owned 258,710 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock worth $8,355,450 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about CME Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target to $356, backing upside as volumes and margins remain healthy. Jefferies Boosts Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: CME reported record monthly average daily volume (ADV) of 37.6M contracts in February (up 14% YoY) and new open interest/ADV records in its Dairy franchise — positive for fee revenue and long-term growth. Monthly ADV Record Dairy OI Record
• Positive Sentiment: Crypto tailwinds — technical signals for Bitcoin and an unfilled CME futures gap could lift crypto derivatives volumes, which helps CME’s products mix. Bitcoin Signals
• Neutral Sentiment: Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating — not a downgrade but not strongly bullish either. Argus Hold Reaffirmed
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data in early March appears inconsistent/erroneous (reported as 0 shares / NaN increases) and is not providing a clear signal. (Data noise — treat with caution.)
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro note: CME FedWatch signals show a higher probability the Fed will pause, which can reduce interest-rate-driven trading volatility (mixed impact on volumes). Fed More Likely To Stay Pat
• Negative Sentiment: CME rebuffed traders seeking compensation after a trading outage that affected settlement — a reputational and legal risk that could spook some clients and lead to vendor/trader friction. CME Rebuffs Traders
• Negative Sentiment: After the analyst upgrade and a new 1‑year high, near-term profit-taking and rotation have likely pushed the share price down despite the positive fundamental flow data (typical short-term market reaction).

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.

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