Cutinho Sunil 4

What Happened

• Sunil Cutinho, Chief Information Officer of CME Group (CME), received 8,256 performance shares that vested on March 15, 2026. The shares were valued at $311.40 each for a total award value of $2,570,918.
• To satisfy tax withholding on the award, 3,658 shares were surrendered to the company at the same $311.40 price, representing $1,139,101 (reported as a disposition for tax withholding). These transactions are awards/vesting and tax-withholding movements—not open-market purchases or sales.

Key Details

• Transaction date: March 15, 2026; Form 4 filed March 17, 2026 (appears timely).
• Award: 8,256 shares @ $311.40 = $2,570,918 (transaction code A — award/acquisition).
• Tax withholding: 3,658 shares surrendered @ $311.40 = $1,139,101 (transaction code F — tax withholding/disposition).
• Shares owned after the transaction: not specified in the provided filing excerpt.
• Footnotes:
  • F1: These were performance shares granted in 2022 under CME’s Omnibus Stock Plan; final payout was determined by CME’s total shareholder return vs. the S&P 500 over 1/1/2023–12/31/2025.
  • F2: The 3,658 shares were surrendered to the company to satisfy tax withholding obligations related to the vested award.

Context

• This was a vesting of performance-based restricted stock, not an open-market purchase or a sale for investment reasons. Surrendering shares to cover taxes is a routine administrative step and does not necessarily indicate the insider’s view of the stock.
• For retail investors, awards tied to performance metrics can align executive pay with shareholder returns; the payout level here reflects three-year relative TSR performance.