Analysts Set CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Target Price at $292.12

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $292.1176.

Several research firms have recently commented on CME. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $323.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Erste Group Bank lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of CME Group from $310.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. The trade was a 17.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William R. Shepard purchased 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $230.57 per share, with a total value of $74,935.25. Following the purchase, the director owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,050,111.94. This represents a 0.12% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CME Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CME. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA increased its stake in CME Group by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 5,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,198,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 129,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,644,000 after acquiring an additional 915 shares during the period. Perkins Coie Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 2,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $577,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 24.7% in the second quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 2,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harrell Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 2.5% in the second quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 26,479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,847,000 after acquiring an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting CME Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: CME Group posted Q2 adjusted earnings of $2.99 per share, topping estimates, while revenue of about $1.71 billion also beat forecasts. The upside was supported by strong hedging demand and active derivatives trading, which reinforced confidence in the company’s core exchange business. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Management said the first half of 2026 was the strongest in company history for revenue, adjusted operating income, adjusted net income, and adjusted diluted EPS, suggesting momentum remains solid heading into the rest of the year. Quiver Quantitative article
• Positive Sentiment: Trading volumes were strong, with average daily volume near 29.8 million contracts and record market data revenue of $238 million, both of which support the view that CME is benefiting from elevated market activity and pricing power. Seeking Alpha presentation
• Positive Sentiment: Shares also gained support from unusual call-option buying and broader investor interest following the earnings beat, which can reinforce near-term upward momentum. Quiver Quantitative options flow article
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Terrence Duffy pushed back on market chatter about potential perpetual-futures products, saying clients are not demanding them. That appears to have been a side issue rather than a direct driver of the move. Bloomberg article

CME Group Trading Up 5.0%

NASDAQ:CME opened at $249.24 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $90.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.25. CME Group has a one year low of $218.31 and a one year high of $329.16. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $255.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.51.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.42% and a net margin of 63.19%.The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.96 EPS. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CME Group will post 12.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is 44.37%.

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.