Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Key Points

• Richard Bernstein Advisors cut its position in CME Group by 63.4% in Q3, selling 8,568 shares and leaving 4,938 shares valued at about $1.334 million.
• Insiders sold 30,248 shares (roughly $8.36 million) in the last three months, including director sales by Martin J. Gepsman and Bryan T. Durkin, adding to reported institutional selling pressure.
• CME boosted its quarterly dividend to $1.30 (annualized $5.20, yield 1.7%, ex-dividend March 10) and reported Q earnings of $2.77 per share on $1.65 billion revenue, while citing record futures volume and new product expansions.

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME - Free Report) by 63.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,938 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 8,568 shares during the quarter. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC's holdings in CME Group were worth $1,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caldwell Trust Co increased its position in shares of CME Group by 116.3% in the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new stake in CME Group in the third quarter worth $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new stake in CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the 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. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 43,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,317,117.55. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME opened at $306.34 on Wednesday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $293.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $278.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $248.53 and a 1-year high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from CME Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.80%.

Key Stories Impacting CME Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: CME is reporting record trading activity and demand: the energy complex set an all‑time single‑day volume record (8.3M contracts) and the firm touted record monthly futures volume, evidence of strong client flow and fee generation that supports revenues and long‑term earnings. Energy Volume Record
• Positive Sentiment: Product expansion: CME launched new South Asia crude palm oil futures and already recorded initial block trades, showing uptake for new contracts and incremental revenue opportunities from expanded product suites. Palm Oil Futures Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Infrastructure partnership: Tickblaze announced integration of CME futures market data into its platform, which can broaden distribution of CME data products to prop trading shops and institutional users. This supports data‑services revenue potential. Tickblaze Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually large options activity: a huge spike in call purchases was reported (very large notional / volume vs typical), which could signal speculative bullish positioning but may also be one‑day noise; treat as mixed short‑term signal.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in recent feeds shows zero/NaN entries and 0 days‑to‑cover — this appears to be a reporting anomaly and should not be read as a material change in short demand.
• Negative Sentiment: Ex‑dividend mechanical pressure: the board declared a large combined payout (~$7.45 per share), and the stock adjusted lower on the ex‑dividend date as expected; that mechanical drop is the main proximate cause of today’s decline. Ex‑Dividend Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Sell pressure from sentiment and flows: recent profit‑taking after strong run, at least one analyst downgrade and large institutional moves (notably big reductions by some asset managers) and reported insider sales have likely added incremental selling pressure. Analyst / Institutional / Insider Notes

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on CME Group from $311.00 to $310.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on CME Group from $296.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.71.

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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