Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,381,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,213 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.94% of CME Group worth $913,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Caldwell Trust Co boosted its holdings in CME Group by 116.3% during the third quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA purchased a new position in CME Group in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 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

CME Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $306.34 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $110.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.45, a PEG 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $293.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $278.26.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 62.45%.CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CME Group from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on CME Group from $305.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.90, for a total value of $91,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,194.10. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock worth $8,355,450. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.