USS Investment Management Ltd Purchases 2,218 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

USS Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 3.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 62,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,218 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in CME Group were worth $18,344,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in CME Group by 64.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1,250.0% in the 4th 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. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CME Group News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group (CME) to Outperform from Market Perform and kept a $305 price target, citing an attractive risk/reward setup after recent stock weakness. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying may also support sentiment: Director William Shepard bought 325 shares at about $230.57 per share, signaling confidence from management. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts still expect modest earnings growth ahead of CME’s next report, and one note lifted FY2027 EPS estimates slightly, reinforcing the view that fundamentals remain solid. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: CME is expected to report second-quarter results soon, with Wall Street looking for low-single-digit profit growth; investors may be waiting for the print before making bigger moves. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman Sachs cut its price target on CME Group (CME) to $245 from $267 and maintained a Sell rating, which likely weighed on the stock. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: DraftKings’ move to bring its prediction-markets infrastructure in-house may reduce reliance on third-party platforms such as CME over time, creating a potential competitive headwind. Article Title

CME Group Price Performance

CME opened at $231.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.70 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $269.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $284.88. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.31 and a 52-week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced 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. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $266.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen raised CME Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on CME Group from $267.00 to $245.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $300.94.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.