New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 24,335 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 538,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,335 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.15% of CME Group worth $145,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth $1,571,447,000. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in shares of CME Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $164,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CME Group by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,695,313,000 after buying an additional 532,549 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in CME Group by 131,625.5% in the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 486,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,970,000 after buying an additional 485,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HRT Financial LP purchased a new stake in CME Group in the 2nd quarter worth $127,103,000. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on CME Group from $304.00 to $302.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on CME Group from $280.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Argus cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $308.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $292.18.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CME opened at $286.05 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $103.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.72, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.27. CME Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $232.32 and a 1 year high of $290.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $274.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $272.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

Key Headlines Impacting CME Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Metals trading hit a single-day record (3.34M contracts on Jan. 26), boosting fee-related trading revenue and signaling elevated client hedging activity amid precious-metals volatility. This supports near-term revenue upside. CME Group Reaches New Record in Metals Futures and Options
• Positive Sentiment: CME expanded crypto derivatives by adding options on Bitcoin Friday futures, broadening product mix and potential fee pools as institutional crypto activity grows. This can support future revenue diversification. CME Group Expands Crypto Offerings With Options On Bitcoin Friday Futures
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect CME to report earnings growth next week, with commentary that the company has the setup for a likely earnings beat—fuel for short-term upside if results and guidance beat consensus. CME Group (CME) Earnings Expected to Grow
• Positive Sentiment: Reported short-interest fell ~15.6% to ~4.21M shares as of Jan. 15 (about 1.2% of float), lowering immediate downside pressure from short squeezes and signalling reduced bearish positioning. (Data entry summary)
• Neutral Sentiment: CME signed a multiyear jersey-patch sponsorship with the Chicago White Sox — a brand/marketing move that raises local visibility but is unlikely to move near-term fundamentals materially. CME Group Named as First-Ever Chicago White Sox Jersey Patch Sponsor
• Neutral Sentiment: CME is scheduled to report earnings this coming Wednesday — an event investors should watch closely for volume-driven revenue, guidance and margin commentary. CME Group (CME) to Release Earnings on Wednesday
• Neutral Sentiment: Some short-interest data entries in the feed show inconsistencies (0 shares / NaN changes) — treat those as reporting errors rather than market signals until confirmed by official filings. (Data entry summary)

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director Harold Eugene Jr. Ford sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.53, for a total transaction of $263,530.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,511.23. This represents a 47.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 65,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company 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.