CME Group Inc. (CME) to Issue Dividend of $5.80 on January 16th

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

CME Group has increased 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 55.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Performance

Shares of CME stock traded up $1.46 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $239.47. The stock had a trading volume of 478,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,968,869. CME Group has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $249.02. The firm has a market cap of $86.30 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $231.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. CME Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.25 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that CME Group will post 10.22 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of CME Group in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,652,298. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total value of $226,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,403,279.44. This trade represents a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.