CME Group Inc. (CME) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.25 on March 26th

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 1.25 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15.

CME Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 42.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. CME Group has a dividend payout ratio of 45.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect CME Group to earn $10.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.5%.

CME Group Stock Down 1.9 %

CME Group stock opened at $251.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $258.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.80 billion, a PE ratio of 26.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $239.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $229.89.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. On average, analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total value of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at $5,453,085.45. This represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,076 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,496 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup lowered CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on CME Group from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on CME Group from $235.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.13.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.