CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Announces Dividend of $5.80

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) declared a dividend on Thursday, December 5th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of 5.80 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, January 16th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50.

CME Group has increased its dividend by an average of 9.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. CME Group has a dividend payout ratio of 55.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect CME Group to earn $10.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.0%.

CME Group Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ CME traded up $1.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $239.47. 478,413 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,968,869. CME Group has a 12 month low of $190.70 and a 12 month high of $249.02. The company has a market capitalization of $86.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.62.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.22 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on CME Group from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $229.33.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,652,298. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Sunil Cutinho sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.64, for a total value of $1,019,880.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,053 shares in the company, valued at $6,131,291.92. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.