CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $1.25

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) announced 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 2.07%. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15.

CME Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 42.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. CME Group has a payout ratio of 53.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect CME Group to earn $10.33 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 56.1%.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $241.64 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $235.20 and a 200-day moving average of $223.49. CME Group has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $249.02. The company has a market cap of $87.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $229.27.

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.