CME Group Inc. $CME Shares Sold by Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Mesirow Financial Investment Management cut its CME Group stake by 19% in the fourth quarter, selling 3,700 shares and leaving it with 15,781 shares worth about $4.31 million.
• CME Group recently reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, with EPS of $3.36 and revenue of $1.88 billion, both ahead of analyst estimates and up 14.5% from a year earlier.
• The company is also seeing product expansion and institutional interest, including plans to launch Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures and continued heavy ownership by hedge funds and other institutions, which hold 87.75% of the stock.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,781 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,700 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in CME Group were worth $4,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CME. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth about $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth $636,487,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in CME Group by 107.2% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,502,752 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $406,029,000 after acquiring an additional 777,571 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in CME Group in the second quarter valued at $164,648,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in CME Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

More CME Group News

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

• Positive Sentiment: CME Group announced plans to launch Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures on June 8, expanding its regulated crypto offerings and potentially driving additional trading activity. CME Group to Launch Nasdaq CME Crypto Index Futures
• Positive Sentiment: The new futures product is CME’s first market-cap weighted contract, which could broaden participation from both institutional and active retail traders. CME Group to Launch Nasdaq CME Crypto Index Futures
• Positive Sentiment: Interactive Brokers also said it will integrate CME Group event contracts into a unified prediction-market platform, which may improve distribution and accessibility for CME-linked products. Interactive Brokers Rolls Out Centralized Prediction Market Trading Hub with Kalshi Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: CME Group also released preliminary annual meeting results, including board elections, but the update appears routine and is unlikely to materially affect the stock. CME Group Inc. Announces Preliminary Results of 2026 Annual Meeting
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent analyst commentary remains moderately constructive, but does not appear to be the main driver of the move. Do Wall Street Analysts Like CME Group Stock?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CME shares. Morgan Stanley cut 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 note on Thursday, April 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on CME Group from $343.00 to $316.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday, April 26th. Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of CME Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a "buy" 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 assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $305.29.

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $297.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company's 50-day moving average price is $298.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $287.99. CME Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.17 and a fifty-two week high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $107.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The business's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.65, for a total transaction of $1,300,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 3,291 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.37, for a total transaction of $1,097,120.67. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 7,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,397,597.04. This trade represents a 31.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 7,791 shares of company stock valued at $2,489,421 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

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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