CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Declares Dividend Increase – $1.25 Per Share

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th, RTT News reports. Investors 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 yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15.

CME Group has raised its dividend by an average of 42.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. CME Group has a payout ratio of 45.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Performance

CME opened at $251.98 on Wednesday. CME Group has a 12-month low of $190.70 and a 12-month high of $258.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $239.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Julie Winkler sold 11,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $2,888,378.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 21,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,453,085.45. This trade represents a 34.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,076 shares of company stock worth $4,271,496 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on CME shares. Barclays raised their target price on CME Group from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on CME Group from $256.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.13.

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.