Erste Group Bank Boosts Earnings Estimates for CME Group

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) – Stock analysts at Erste Group Bank upped their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for CME Group in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, February 18th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now forecasts that the financial services provider will post earnings of $11.90 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $11.80. The consensus estimate for CME Group’s current full-year earnings is $10.49 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for CME Group’s FY2027 earnings at $12.72 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also commented on CME. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of 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 upped their target price on CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of CME Group from $319.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Argus reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.53.

CME Group Price Performance

CME Group stock opened at $319.03 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group has a 12-month low of $247.08 and a 12-month high of $319.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $284.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $275.23.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $0.02. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s payout ratio is 44.80%.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $278.37 per share, with a total value of $69,870.87. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 258,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,017,102.70. This represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were 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 have sold a total of 30,248 shares of company stock worth $8,355,450 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CME Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CME Group during the 2nd quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth about $1,006,932,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the third quarter worth about $636,487,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 746.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,720,000 after buying an additional 1,807,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in CME Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $217,656,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Record U.S. Treasury activity — Open interest in CME’s U.S. Treasury futures and options hit a new record of 36.33 million contracts (Feb. 19), with additional OI records in the 2-, 5-, 10- and 30‑year products. Higher OI implies stronger fee and clearing revenue potential for CME. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/ratings momentum — CME earned an RS (relative strength) rating upgrade and firms including Erste Group have lifted earnings estimates, supporting the stock’s re-rating and investor interest. These upgrades reinforce recent positive sentiment after CME’s modest beat on Q4 revenue/earnings. Read More. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend raise and institutional demand — Recent disclosures show CME raised its quarterly dividend (to $1.30) and has heavy institutional ownership and sizable buys from large funds, which supports total-return appeal and may underpin valuation. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Crypto flows and derivatives positioning — Coverage notes that Bitcoin futures positioning on CME has shifted to net long and mining resilience might spur futures activity; this could boost crypto-related volumes but is uncertain and dependent on broader crypto price action. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Contextual earnings coverage — Recent Q4 commentary and comparisons with peers highlight solid margins and revenue growth, but some analysts still see valuation limits absent sustained volume growth; useful context for longer-term expectations. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Director insider sale — Director Bryan Durkin sold 4,200 shares (~$1.3M) on Feb. 23, trimming his holding by ~8.9%. Insider sales can raise short‑term concerns, though the sale size is small relative to overall institutional ownership. Read More.

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.