CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich

Key Points

• Bank Julius Baer slightly reduced its CME Group stake by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, but still held 801,283 shares valued at about $218.9 million.
• CME reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.36 beating estimates and revenue of $1.88 billion topping forecasts, while revenue rose 14.5% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, payable June 25, and continued to draw attention for new product initiatives like compute futures and expanded crypto offerings.

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 801,283 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,471 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned 0.22% of CME Group worth $218,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth about $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID increased its stake in shares of CME Group by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More CME Group News

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

• Positive Sentiment: CME Group and Silicon Data said they will launch the first compute futures market later this year, giving traders, AI builders, cloud providers, and financial institutions a new way to hedge and speculate on GPU/compute pricing. The move ties CME to the fast-growing AI infrastructure trade and could broaden its product lineup. CME Group and Silicon Data Partner to Launch First Compute Futures
• Positive Sentiment: Reports also highlighted CME’s planned expansion into compute futures as a way to bring more transparency and risk management to the AI “power” market, potentially attracting new institutional trading activity and boosting derivatives volume. Is AI power really the new oil? Soon it will trade like just like a commodity.
• Positive Sentiment: Separate commentary said CME is also expanding its digital-asset offerings with a “Bitcoin VIX”-style product, which could deepen its crypto franchise and support more trading volume in volatile markets. CME Is Launching a Bitcoin VIX: Here’s Why That Changes Wall Street’s Bitcoin Game
• Neutral Sentiment: One article argued CME still screens as a solid long-term stock, pointing to its valuation and earnings quality, but it did not introduce a new catalyst. Is CME Group Inc. (CME) A Good Stock To Buy Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader macro coverage noted shifting Fed rate-cut odds using CME FedWatch data, but this was more a market backdrop item than a direct business-specific driver for CME shares. Rate Cut Odds Just Collapsed to 5%. History Says This Is When Record Highs Get Tested.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on CME shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $313.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus restated a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $305.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total value of $1,097,120.67. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,597.04. This represents a 31.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total transaction of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,194.10. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 7,791 shares of company stock worth $2,489,421 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 4.0%

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $297.13 on Thursday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $299.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $287.79. The company has a market capitalization of $107.67 billion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $257.17 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.37%.

CME Group 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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