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

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 given a dividend of 1.25 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. This is an increase from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15.

CME Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 42.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. CME Group has a payout ratio of 53.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of CME Group stock opened at $241.64 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $87.08 billion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day moving average of $235.20 and a 200-day moving average of $223.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $249.02.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.