Top-Rated Crypto Stock Has Myriad of News

CME Group Inc. (CME:NASDAQ) is a Chicago-based company that runs several financial derivatives exchanges. Their major exchanges include the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, the New York Mercantile Exchange, and The Commodity Exchange. In addition to operating these exchanges, CME Group owns a significant stake of around 27% in S&P Dow Jones Indices.

In a report yesterday, CME released that it was declaring a fourth quarter (Q4) dividend. This dividend came out to be US$1.10 per share and is payable December 28 of this year to shareholders who are on record by December 8. 

November 8, the company reported that trading of its Micro Henry Hub futures had moved passed 50,000 contracts since the day of its launch, which was only two days prior. In light of the news, Peter Keavey, Global Head of Energy and Environment Products at CME, said, "Heightened geopolitical events and a wave of new LNG facilities have helped solidify Henry Hub as the center of global gas markets, which has driven an increase in demand for our highly-liquid products. We are pleased to expand our market access with the launch of Micro Henry Hub contracts and help a broader range of traders manage their natural gas exposure with more precision."

Forbes Advisor released a report of the top cryptocurrency stocks, and CME made the top of the list. Forbes reported that the company had an average five-year annualized return of 6.22% and that it chose to highlight the company because of its exceptionally large size and its status as one of the oldest exchanges to allow Bitcoin trades.

The company released a report on November 7, focused on the agricultural sector, which saw sentiment among agricultural producers looking slightly more optimistic. The company reports that it rose by four points to 110 on the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. This increase also manifested as a six-point increase in the Farm Financial Performance Index in October.

James Mintert, the director of the Center for Commercial Agriculture at Purdue University, commented, “Farmers in this month’s survey were slightly less concerned about the risk of lower prices for crops and livestock and felt somewhat better about their farms’ financial situation than a month earlier. Reports of higher-than-expected corn and soybean yields in some Corn Belt locations, along with a modest rally in corn prices, likely contributed to this month’s rise in the financial conditions and the barometer indices.”

Prior to all this, on November 2, it announced in a press release that October of 2022 saw the best interest rate ADV for the company in its history with 11.8 million contracts, along with several other performance metrics. The company reported that it saw a 21% increase in interest rate ADV, a 23% increase in options ADV, a 28% increase in energy ADV, a 24% increase in metals ADV, a 26% increase in international ADV, and a 28% increase in agricultural ADV.

A Very Attractive Buy

This month, Forbes Advisor released a report of the top cryptocurrency stocks, and CME made the top of the list. Forbes reported that the company had an average five-year annualized return of 6.22% and that it chose to highlight the company because of its exceptionally large size and its status as one of the oldest exchanges to allow Bitcoin trades.

New Constructs also reviewed the group on November 2, 2023, and rated the company as “very attractive” and maintained that rating in every category (debt to capital, EBITDA to debt, free cash flow to debt, cash to debt, and interest coverage).

Growth Rate of 12.5% by 2030

As for the crypto sector, according to Grand View Research, the market size for cryptocurrency is expected to grow by 12.5% by 2030 from US$4.67 billion in 2022.

Grand View reports that major drivers of the market include the development of artificial intelligence, the adoption of distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain, and the slow adoption of cryptocurrency by larger institutions, such as MasterCard Inc.

Some complications remain ahead for the market, stated Grand View, such as attempts to regulate cryptocurrencies.

Ownership and Share Structure

Reuters provided a breakdown of the company’s ownership and share structure, where management and insiders own approximately 0.21% of the company.

Director William R. Shepard owns 0.07% of the company with 0.25 million shares, Director William W. Hobert owns 0.03% of the company with 0.12 million shares, Chairman and CEO Terrence A. Duffy owns 0.03% of the company with 0.09 million shares, Director Howard J. Siegel owns 0.02% of the company with 0.08 million shares, Director Bryan T. Durkin owns 0.02% of the company with 0.07 million shares, Special Advisor John W. Pietrowicz owns 0.02% of the company with 0.06 million shares, Director Patrick J. Mulchrone owns 0.01% of the company with 0.05 million shares, and Senior Managing Director Derek Louis Sammann owns 0.01% of the company with 0.05 million shares.

Reuters reports that institutions own approximately 36.28% of the company, as The Vanguard Group, Inc. owns 9.21% of the company with 33.15 million shares, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company owns 4.55% of the company with 16.38 million shares, State Street Global Advisors (US) OWNS 4.43% of the company with 15.95 million shares, Capital International Investors owns 3.89% of the company with 14.00 million shares, Capital World Investors owns 3.66% of the company with 13.19 million shares, JP Morgan Asset Management owns 3.20% of the company with 11.52 million shares, Capital Research Global Investors owns 2.55% of the company with 9.17 million shares, Geode Capital Management, LLC, owns 2.02% of the company with 7.26 million shares, Parnassus Investments, LLC, owns 1.57% of the company with 5.64 million shares, and Fidelity International owns 1.20% of the company with 4.31 million shares.

According to Reuters, there are 359.99 million shares outstanding and 358.27 million free float traded shares, while the company has a market ap of CA$76,515.84 million and trades in the 52-week period between CA$164.68 and CA$221.76.

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1. Amanda Duvall wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. 
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