CME Group Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $1.15 (NASDAQ:CME)

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 8th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of 1.15 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, September 25th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th.

CME Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.0% annually 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 45.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect CME Group to earn $9.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 46.3%.

CME Group Stock Performance

Shares of CME opened at $220.50 on Friday. CME Group has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $223.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $79.39 billion, a PE ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 6.51 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.59.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that CME Group will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total transaction of $586,320.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,399,936.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other CME Group news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total value of $1,629,381.87. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,932,706.13. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total transaction of $586,320.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,399,936.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America downgraded CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $212.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of CME Group in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $209.73.

About CME Group

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.