Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 4,543 Shares of CME Group Inc. $CME

Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 16.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $9,574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CME Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,523,241,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CME Group by 746.4% in the 4th 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. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CME Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,656,000. Viking Global Investors LP bought a new position in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $164,648,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CME Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,895,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,802,366,000 after acquiring an additional 588,509 shares in the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting CME Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded retail access to futures: TradeStation is expanding its futures offering to include CME Group’s spot-quoted futures, potentially increasing participation, liquidity and transaction volume across CME’s markets. TradeStation Expands Futures Offering with CME Group Spot-Quoted Futures
• Positive Sentiment: Entry into sports-related derivatives: CME Group plans to launch cash-settled futures tied to sports performance indexes through a partnership with FutureSports. The initiative targets the roughly $650 billion global sports industry and could create a new source of trading and clearing revenue if it receives regulatory approval and attracts hedging demand. CME Group Targets $650 Billion Sports Industry With First Sports Index Futures
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings beat expectations: CME’s latest quarterly results exceeded consensus estimates, with earnings per share of $2.99 versus $2.91 expected and revenue of $1.71 billion versus $1.68 billion expected. Revenue increased year over year, reinforcing the company’s strong operating performance and high margins.
• Neutral Sentiment: Federal Reserve holds rates steady: The Fed kept its benchmark rate at 3.50%–3.75%, in line with expectations. The decision does not materially change CME’s outlook, though future rate uncertainty can support activity in interest-rate and other derivatives markets. Fed Holds Rates Between 3.50% and 3.75%
• Negative Sentiment: Minor earnings-estimate reduction: Erste Group Bank lowered its FY2027 EPS forecast to $12.91 from $12.94 and maintained a “Hold” rating. The small revision signals limited near-term upside from that analyst, though the estimate remains above the broader current-year consensus of $12.27.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on CME Group from $342.00 to $322.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CME Group from $324.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, Director William R. Shepard bought 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $230.57 per share, for a total transaction of $74,935.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 260,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,050,111.94. This trade represents a 0.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total transaction of $10,447,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,606,111.30. The trade was a 38.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CME opened at $267.36 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.15. CME Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The firm has a market cap of $96.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 63.30%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.96 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that CME Group Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.11%.

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.