Franklin Resources Inc. Has $913.55 Million Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

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

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caldwell Trust Co lifted its stake in CME Group by 116.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 93 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Corundum Trust Company INC bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the third quarter worth $30,000. 87.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.55, for a total value of $6,738,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,737,468.20. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Dennis Suskind sold 748 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $224,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,700. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 30,248 shares of company stock valued at $8,355,450. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting CME Group

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 Stock Down 4.0%

Shares of CME stock opened at $306.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $293.60 and its 200-day moving average is $278.26. The stock has a market cap of $110.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.24. CME Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $248.53 and a 52-week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 62.45% and a return on equity of 14.65%. CME Group’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CME Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CME. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $295.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CME Group from $262.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Erste Group Bank raised CME Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of CME Group in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on CME Group from $264.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.71.

About CME Group

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.