Rathbones Group PLC Purchases 10,602 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC increased its CME Group stake by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, buying 10,602 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 999,530 shares worth about $273 million.
• Insiders have been selling CME stock recently, including director Martin J. Gepsman and insider Hilda Harris Piell, with the article noting that insiders sold 48,544 shares in the last quarter overall.
• CME’s fundamentals remain solid: the company beat first-quarter earnings and revenue estimates, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, payable June 25, for an annualized yield of 1.8%.

Rathbones Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 999,530 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,602 shares during the quarter. CME Group makes up 1.1% of Rathbones Group PLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Rathbones Group PLC owned about 0.28% of CME Group worth $272,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CME. Asset Dedication LLC raised its position 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 last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID raised its position 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 last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its position 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 last quarter. Finally, Anfield Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in CME Group by 197.4% in the fourth quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 24,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,647,194.10. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total transaction of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 48,544 shares of company stock worth $14,689,807. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting CME Group

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

• Neutral Sentiment: Recent market commentary says the stock’s weakness looks consistent with profit-taking after CME’s strong first-quarter results, which included record revenue and better-than-expected earnings. That means investors may be locking in gains after the company set a high bar for continued performance.
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro expectations are also shaping the move: traders are pricing out Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2026, and CME’s business depends heavily on derivatives and rate-volatility activity. If rate uncertainty stabilizes, trading volumes can cool, which may be weighing on the shares.
• Neutral Sentiment: CME recently filed routine annual-meeting shareholder materials, and its adjourned Class B proposals after a quorum shortfall. These governance updates are not likely to change the business outlook, but they can keep investor attention on voting and corporate structure issues. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: There was also a notable insider sale by CEO Terrence Duffy and another sale by Hilda Harris Piell. Insider selling often hurts sentiment, but it appears more like a cautionary signal than a direct fundamental warning. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Competition in emerging compute-linked futures is also drawing attention, with ICE planning its own computing-power futures market while CME is pursuing similar product expansion. That suggests CME may face pressure to defend its growth opportunities in a new niche. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of 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 report on Wednesday, March 4th. Erste Group Bank upgraded CME Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on CME Group from $362.00 to $353.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $305.29.

CME Group Trading Down 4.1%

NASDAQ CME opened at $290.12 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $105.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.23. CME Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $257.17 and a 52 week high of $329.16. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $296.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $288.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.25. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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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